Planning for the 4th annual Ryan Grace Memorial Baseball Tournament is underway! Registration will open soon; in the meantime mark your calendars and get organized! August 8-9, 2020 Fountain Bluff Sports Complex 2200 Old State Highway 210 Liberty, MO 64068 Ages 7u-14u (*based on your FALL 2020 classification) Cost: 7u-8u MP - $300 9u-12u KP - $375 13u & 14u KP - $400 High School - $550 (Updated 04/17/2020) This is an open roster event. Put a team together and come enjoy a fantastic weekend raising money for an incredible cause! Specific rules, pitching limits, etc. will be shared with coaches as the event nears. 50/50 raffle, autographed memorabilia, gift cards, and so much more will be available to enter to win! *ALL PROCEEDS WILL ONCE AGAIN BE DONATED TO MIDWEST TRANSPLANT NETWORK IN HONOR OF THE ORGAN DONOR AND 3-YEAR-OLD GUARDIAN ANGEL, RYAN GRACE HAMPEL. Help us to beat last year's donation: $10, 349.90! I do this for one reason: I am the only person to have a full recovery and, for all intents and purposes, walk away from the tragic events of September 17, 2017. If I sit back and only sling soda for the rest of my days, I have wasted an opportunity at life. I feel it is my duty to do something that gives back, and most importantly, honors a certain special guardian angel, Ms. 'Ryno' Ryan Grace. For those who didn't get the opportunity to meet her, it's your loss. She was the coolest and most full of life 3 year old. Now, and most importantly, she's a hero to me and her organ recipients.
I cannot do this without the help, assistance, advice, guidance, and everything in between I have received from some of the coaches, my volunteers, and most importantly, my now WIFE Heather Hampel. Thank you for putting up with me thru this process and for going down this journey with me for another year. Now the guts of the tournament: putting together a tournament is expensive. I try my best to keep the expenses down, but at the end of the day, it all adds up. Event insurance is nothing to ignore (a big THANK YOU to Christ Hotchkiss for his help and donation in this area,) and umpires for roughly 50 games can run a couple thousand dollars. Last year we donated just over $9,000, which, while incredible, had a couple factors that played to our benefit. I did not have to pay for Platte Purchase last year, which was a huge savings. Also, for those that don’t know, a very nice older gentlemen last year purchased a 50/50 raffle ticket and asked Ms. Kathy Cain-Espeland to put Ryan’s name on the ticket. As luck would have it, we were able to add $825 into the pot when we drew her first! This year, the fields cost $1,600 and Ryan did not win the 50/50, making this year’s donation start at least $2,400 less. Couple those factors with a food truck who bailed on us early Saturday (and didn’t ever show back up Sunday as was promised) and the less than favorable weather Sunday morning slowed everything down. With all that being said, I am very pleased to say this year’s total donation is going to be well OVER TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS!! I can’t believe it! It’s an incredible accomplishment, and something I never envisioned possible when I started planning these events. To all my volunteers, THANK YOU!! Keeping the entire front end of all this together without my worry helped me tremendously. To all my runners who had to get coolers, ice, and Gatorade and water to sell when the food truck fiasco occurred, you were a lifesaver! Also, my emergency grounds crew who assisted in getting the fields dry Sunday was an absolute game changer. THANK YOU! A sneak peak into next year: I am currently in conversation with a facility already to host our event. Yes, it will be moving again, but hopefully to a permanent home that is much larger and gives us the ability to host every age group! Ideally we would double the number of teams! Please continue to follow this page as we continue to build on our successes, work on our faults, and adjust this annual event!! Make sure to stop by KC Cajun!!!! Their food is SOOOOO good!!!
And Kona is here as well! Send them some love! This year’s event will be held Sat and Sun, August 10-11. It will be at Pleasant Valley Road Athletic Complex in the KC Northland. All proceeds will go to Midwest Transplant Network again this year. Ryan Grace was an organ donor, and bringing awareness to such a cause is the most important piece of the weekend.
-50/50 and prize raffle will be on site (and you can purchase tickets now for it) All credit cards accepted thru Square! -T-shirts and racerbacks are available to purchase -Food truck and snow cones on site both days -Cowtown Mini Donuts available on Sunday! -Midwest Transplant will be on site -Admission is $5, under 8 is free -Games start at 8:30 both days Thank you for being a part of a wonderful event and bringing awareness to a great organization!! 💚 The Mobile Doc RV from Liberty Urgent Care will be on site both Saturday and Sunday for any/all medical needs. Their entire staff took wonderful care of me during my transitions before and after my shoulder procedures. Thank you all so much for coming to support this event!! 💜
We are back and better than ever!! :)
Only 10 more days until the Tournament!! The first order of Ryan shirts are in and ready to be picked up. If you would like for us to hold on to them until the tournament, we certainly can. Or, reach out to Heather or I and swing by to grab them! YES, we will do another order of them after the tournament. We will have a table set up by the admission table to get your order in. Lastly, we will still take any sponsorships/gift cards to throw into the 50/50 raffle! Thank so much! I am on the hunt for sponsorship/donation of gifts. Last year, we had multiple restaurants and businesses offer gift cards/vouchers, and we also had small business owners put together packages to win as well (hair care, Thirty One bags, free oil changes, etc.) A thank you to Matt Joslin last year for the heavy lifting in this department.
We put everything in as part of the 50/50 raffle, and we will have the same kind of setup this year. (A silent auction is difficult since the teams who make the championship games get last dibs on bidding.) JUSTBATS.COM sent a $100 gift card which will be part of the bucket of prizes this year! For those businesses who don’t have a monetary prize like a gift card to put towards prizes (real estate, insurance, title company, etc…) we have a different way you can donate this year: For $100, we will place a sign/banner/poster you would like to provide on the fence in the facility. (I can provide my tax ID for donation purposes if needed.) This will give your business exposure for the weekend, and most importantly provide a wonderful donation to the cause. If anyone has contacts they could share this with, please do so! Multiple signs will have a better price for those interested. |
AuthorUpdates from the tournament organizer, Ryan's dad, Matt Hampel, and his amazing wife, Heather. Categories
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