Help Ryan Ace Again with a Prosthetic Leg!

Fundraiser by Matt Ellis, Ben McCrory, Chris Vega, Alyssa Romano, Katryna Baldiviez, Mike Anderson, and Boswell Burnes

 

A tragic accident occurred, leaving our beloved friend, Ryan Baldiviez, 28, (#162221), an amputee, as well as without a father. Having become an incredibly talented disc golfer in the past year, this life-altering change has been multifaceted in way of loss for Ryan; physical, mental, and emotional losses on an unimaginable scale.  

With this said we, his disc golf friends and family, hope you'll join our effort to raise the funds needed to get him a specialty sports performance prosthetic leg in order to get back on the course. Sadly, even if Ryan had top-of-line insurance, it would only cover the standard, walking prosthetic leg, not the specialty limb that will allow him to keep growing his disc golf skill set and undoubtedly help his healing from all angles.

Ryan hails from Riverside, California; he is the oldest son of a Deaf family. His parents and sister are also Deaf. He got involved with sports at an early age, often excelling at them. He thoroughly enjoys competing and understanding the nature of the game. He also enjoys being around teammates and other people who play with him. His father, Mark, also was very involved with sports, excelling at football and baseball. They both followed all kinds of sports, as well.

Like many others trying to keep busy during the pandemic, Ryan picked up Disc Golf in June 2020 and instantly became obsessed with the newfound sport. He played almost daily and wound up turning his father, Mark, on to the sport. They frequented Martha McLean Anza-Narrows in Riverside.

Ryan became a very steady player, with the ability to throw both backhands and forehands consistently. His go-to putter is the 2020 Tour Series McBeth Luna. He tended to make very long putts, from 60, 50 feet. Those putts were often the envy of other players in his card! His favorite discs are EMac Truth, Teebird, Destroyer, and Hades. He started experimenting with Hyzer Flips, and his lines are always a pleasure to watch. He also dives for his discs, leaving no disc behind!

He also started amassing a sizeable collection of discs, buying many types, all with the intent to throw, of course. Ryan’s near-weekly mail calls were shared with his disc golf buddies. He is one of the subscribers to the Sockibomb box. He made the trek to the 2021 Challenge at Goat Hill Park to watch his favorite player, Ricky Wysocki win it all.

He also planned a two-month road trip in the Summer of 2021, making stops at many of the major courses of the disc golf pro tour. He played at Idlewild Kentucky and Maple Hill, Massachusetts, just to name a few.

 

He got his first ace at Hole 11 at Willow Valley Disc Golf Course, Rhode Island, 204 feet, with his 2020 Tour Series McBeth Luna and shared his joy with his friends via video. He bumped into the 5x man himself, Paul McBeth, at the Toboggan Course in Michigan on his birthday.

The reason for his road trip was to make his way to the 2021 National Deaf Disc Golf Championship at Blue Ribbon Pines and Kaposia Park in Minnesota. He played 27 holes a day for four days straight and won first in the intermediate division.

Ryan started working with other Deaf disc golfers in Southern California to create a league for Southern California Deaf Disc Golfers. On September 11th, 17 Deaf disc golfers met at Huntington Beach Central Park to startup our practice league for the real thing in 2022. Ryan attended with his father, Mark. The players enjoyed the round, and plans were made for the following month.

 

On the morning of September 12th, tragedy struck. Mark and Ryan were driving towards San Diego and got into a single-car accident. The accident led to the tragic death of his father, Mark. Ryan also was severely hurt, which as mention earlier, resulted in having to amputate his badly damaged left foot by the means of amputation below the knee.

The news heavily impacted the Deaf community locally and nationally. Countless people loved Mark. Mark had roots everywhere, from California, Texas, and as far as Washington DC. Ryan also is beloved in the Riverside community and by many people all over America. Ryan is upbeat and maintains a positive attitude despite this sudden change- these enumerable changes in his life. He recently attended the local football game at the Deaf school he works at, where the staff and the students love him. We all want to give back to him.

The purpose of this is to raise funds to get him a high-quality athletic prosthetic to get him slinging plastic again. Please spread the word about this fundraising effort. We hope to get support from all over the disc golf community as a whole; the patrons and the business side of the sport. It is our hope- our goal to get Ryan the prosthetic he needs to get him back on the course, to the sport he loves, and on the path to healing and peace.