The Kicks Against Breast Cancer Soccer Tournament will be held tomorrow, April 12, 2008, at the Maryland SoccerPlex. Among the participants will be Georgetown University, US Naval Academy, Johns Hopkins University, Old Dominion University, Penn State University, College of William and Mary, Loyola College of Maryland, George Mason University and University of Virginia.
The Washington Freedom, who will call the SoccerPlex home when WPS kicks off next spring, will take on Penn State in Saturday’s showcase match at 6 pm. A $10 ticket will give spectators access to an entire day of soccer.
KABC Tournament was developed by the former Chair of the NSCAA Women’s Committee, my friend Louise Waxler. The following in an excerpt from Charles Boehm’s article at Potomac Soccer Wire.
This is no ordinary competition. It’s the Kicks Against Breast Cancer tournament, an event that began 12 years ago as a labor of love in the wake of one woman’s unsuccessful fight against the deadly affliction and has since grown into one of the mid-Atlantic soccer community’s most well-loved causes. Over the years KABC has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the fight against cancer, spread priceless awareness among thousands of players and their families and even inspired a similar event in California as Stanford University took the idea back west after participating in the tourney.
Louise Waxler, the Director of Soccer Programs for the Maryland Soccer Foundation and a past president of the National Soccer Coaches’ Association of America, hatched the idea as an outlet for her grief after losing close friend Claudia Mayer to breast cancer in the fall of 1996.
“It was a way for me to try to give back with what I did best, and that was my involvement in tournament and event management, and being involved with soccer for so many years,” says Waxler of the event, which debuted with four college teams in April 1997. “So I was trying to find a way and this seemed to fill the void for me.”
“We challenge those kids to go out into their community and make a difference,” says Waxler. “It amazes me that every year, these kids go out and they continue to raise money. We’ve had so many colleges that have played, and at some point it turned into a competition amongst the teams. Our record right now is over $14,000 – that was raised by the Ohio State womens’ team. So these kids never show up with [just] $1,000: they always hand us envelopes full of money. It’s incredible.”
This year’s event holds a special significance, as several well-known figures in local soccer have recently been stricken by cancer: Robin Miller, administrator for Washington Area Girls Soccer (WAGS) and Charlotte Moran, longtime administrator for Region 1 of the Olympic Development Program (ODP). And in a sad reminder of the tournament’s longevity – and necessity – last year former U.S. Naval Academy standout Christine Weeks became the first KABC alumna to be diagnosed with breast cancer.
For more about Kicks Against Breast Cancer, visit their website at http://www.kicksagainstbreastcanc.com.
Hi, my name is Amanda Vandervort. This is my personal blog where I discuss digital and social media strategies in soccer. Opinions are my own.
