Player Profile: Nora Balayti

One of the many benefits of disc golf is meeting people from all walks of life. The network of people in my disc golf circle is diverse and extensive. But there is one person that I met early in my disc golf journey, and she has been a huge influence. Her name is Nora Balayti, a woman of many talents, and whom I affectionately call ‘Mayor Nora’.

The Balayti name may be well known to some, especially in the Dixon, IL area. The five-star rated Balayti Garage, owned by Nora’s brother, may be why the name is so familiar, or the numerous murals around town, but we’ll get to that later. As Nora recalls, “I was born in Dixon, Illinois but my family and I spent the first 10 years of my life in Lithonia, Georgia before moving back to Dixon. I went on to college at Northern Illinois University, then Northside of Chicago for about a decade until I moved back to Dixon again, in 2018.”

Growing up with a brother, Nora was always trying to compete with them. She started playing disc golf at her local course, Sinnissippi Park, which was installed in 1982. Nora says, “My first time playing, I was in high school trying to impress my brother’s friends out on that course. I spent the next two decades casually chucking with 3-8 discs around anywhere I lived and traveled. Early on, I started making a list of courses I’ve played and currently, I’m at 110. It wasn’t until 2018 that I played my first tournament and became hooked. I played so many sports growing up and here I was for the first time in my life not being on a team or competing regularly. Disc Golf allowed me to still compete, have fun and meet so many amazing people.” Indeed, if you have met Nora, you know she’s a positive force for good in the universe.

Nora wears many hats and is a well-known artist in her community. She explains it best; “I’m a self-employed ART-trepreneur. Basically, I have various streams of income but primarily I work as a mural artist. I’ve painted literally hundreds of murals all over northern Illinois but mostly in Chicago.” If you ever wonder who makes all those beautiful murals that seem to mysteriously pop up all over, now you know of at least one person responsible.

As busy as Nora is, she has still found time to help grow the sport in one of the most significant ways: installing disc golf courses. For her, it was just a matter of math. “When I moved back to Dixon, Sinnissippi was the only real course around”, she says. “My fiancé (Brent) and I partnered with our park district and built the first course in Dixon in Lowell Park and it was designed by Eric McCabe. Since then, we have built 4 more with our biggest and best coming this year. He and I co-founded a club called Rock River Disc Golf.” For many, these accolades would be more than enough to be called an accomplishment, but with Nora, there’s more. “We host leagues, tournaments and clinics, we have done many things annually, so it’s been very easy and very rewarding to witness the growth of disc golf in our smaller rural communities”, she says. In 2020, the Dixon City Chamber awarded me a 4 under 40 award for the artwork and expansion of disc golf I had added to our community. I spend my days jugging lots of different things. I sometimes help as a substitute teacher but most of my days revolve around artwork or disc golf and sometimes both.” You can see why I have given her the moniker of ‘Mayor Nora’. She has done so much for Dixon at such a young age, and I’m sure there will be much more to come. In fact, she says, “I’m making it a goal of mine to expand my graphic design skills this year. I recently published the first ever Disc Golf Activity Book and I’m looking forward to designing some merchandise, stamps and other needs for my club and my teammates.”

Naturally all this amazing work has raised her disc golf profile, and in 2021 she was invited to join the Westside Team. Nora says, “I have been playing a long time and have thrown a lot of discs, but Dynamic Discs and the trilogy brand stood out to me over all other companies because of their efforts to actually help the players, grow the sport and the benefits of the game and not just make money. I loved all their helpful content online and their various tournament-in-a-box options. We were able to host 4 years of Veterans for Vets, Trilogy Challenges and Winter Marksman leagues all through Dynamic Discs. It became a drive of mine and so many other members of our club to grow the sport and I knew it was theirs too. Westside, as well as Flightowel, have been amazing sponsors. The disc golf community is truly like no other and it feels so good to belong. That’s a feeling I want to share with as many people as possible and my terrific sponsors help me do that.”

If you’re feeling exhausted just reading about how active Nora is, we haven’t even talked about playing disc golf. While she hasn’t made a set schedule for 2023, she says, “I will be at most if not all the Birdie Babes tournaments, some IOS tournaments, Ledgestone because it’s always around my birthday and we camp. It’s so fun. Rock River Disc Golf is hosting our third year of the Sauk Valley Open August 19 & 20 at Sinnissippi Park in Sterling IL, our wedding is in October and we are going to be very busy building this new course so it’s going to be one heck of a year.” It’s amazing just how much energy and commitment Nora brings to her passions in life. All of this AND getting married? She’s the very definition of ‘determined’.

I asked Nora to give her advice to players who are just getting started in the game, specifically the ladies. She says, “You’re doing great and keep it up!”. This isn’t a sport that is super easy right away. How many of us players have heard ‘Oh, I tried to do that, and I SUCK!’? You may not realize it, but you ARE getting better with every throw. Stick with it, trust yourself and ask for guidance. So many people have heard so many little things that make a huge difference in various aspects of their game whether it be long, short, or mental. Try everything! Get as many shots in your skill set as possible and most importantly HAVE FUN! That’s the real point of it all, right?” Wise words indeed. Maybe we’ll see a Nora Balayti disc golf clinic in the future.

In closing, Nora has plenty of people to thanks. “Shout out to you first Donovan! For as long as I’ve known you, you have been an amazing cheerleader and campaign leader in disc golf growth. You are appreciated. I also want to shout out my wonderful fiancé Brent Reuter. I wouldn’t be able to do any of the billions of things I like to do without your help, leadership and patience. I’d like to thank my sponsors Westside and people like Eric McCabe, Jonathan Ray and Chris Villa for believing in me and all their support as well as Amanda and Scott Breese at Flightowel for the many ways they support their teammates. Lastly, thank you Janet Hershey who I met at my first tournament. She urged me to go to a Women’s tournament that very next weekend. Without that push, who knows what I’d be doing right now. I try to be more like her now when I see new women at my local events.”

Wow! An amazing woman doing amazing things. Although she has told me many times that she has no interest in politics, I still think the nickname is appropriate. For what it’s worth, she is certainly Mayor Nora when it comes to disc golf.