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What started as some friends doing what they could to support the Hampel family, has grown into an annual baseball tournament with upwards of 60 teams, and in new in 2022 an education scholarship benefitting graduating youth whose lives have been affected by organ donation.
Please check out our "Scholarship" page for more information, and consider donating so that we can continue this amazing legacy of Ryan Grace Hampel. Good morning! If you ordered a shirt at the event:
1-THANK YOU! 2-hang in there! The shirt industry hasn’t been immune to the shortages/lack of product issues most organizations are facing! We’re hoping to have them in hand very soon. Keep an eye out for messages regarding their status soon!!  As I stated in all the medals presentations this year, everyone knows the saying ‘when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.’ This year, WE made $27,268 worth of lemonade in honor of Ms. Ryan Grace! INCREDIBLE!!
(Full disclosure: we are giving Midwest Transplant Network $350 in additional funds made out to them directly from the event. Those totals are not included.) Also, a part of the total amount comes from a very generous donation given to us by one of Ryan’s organ recipients!! I am immeasurably humbled by everyone’s generosity. Whether you’ve given time, resources, or finances, I cannot thank you enough for your kindness and contribution. How did we get here?! From 26 teams in 2019, to SIXTY SEVEN this year 🤯😬😁😍 our donation has increased from $10k last year to this unbelievable amount! I’ve always been transparent about the business; this year is no different. The bigger the event, the bigger costs; roughly $18,500 in expenses were paid out this year in total. However, each year we learn a little bit more about where/how to allocate resources. I’m fortunate to work with amazing vendors, starting with Capitol Federal Sports Complex and my umpiring crew. While they are certainly my 2 most expensive costs, they make it all possible. The move to Cap. Fed. gave us the ability to even HAVE an event this year. The rain on Sunday would have most definitely cancelled any plans on grass/dirt. KC Bleacher Mom was tremendous in the handling of shirts (221 sold this year!!) Kona Ice, Cowtown Mini Donuts, and our newcomers, KC Ice Shack and Silver Linings KC, were also fantastic in assisting towards our donation as well by giving a portion of their sales to our total. Where do we go?? NOWHERE but UP!! We wash, rinse, and repeat. As I’ve said, you don’t simply survive, you THRIVE. While I’m not sure we’ll look to get bigger, we’re certainly going to work on getting better. I asked for and received critiques and suggestions from both coaches and volunteers to ensure we put together as good a product as any other event you’ll go to...with one difference. The Ryan Grace Memorial Tournament is a celebration and a reminder. This event has a WHY, it has a PURPOSE, it has a CAUSE, and it honors a hero and shows you that if one little 3 year old girl can give hope to so many people, why can’t you as well?? 💚💜  The amount of patience and understanding you all displayed towards me over the entire tournament weekend cannot and will not ever be taken for granted or understated. I appreciate all of you hanging in there through 3 weather delays and all the adjustments made to the schedule. While Mother Nature tried her damndest to literally rain on our parade, our ability and decision to have the event on turf was the ultimate save from the bullpen.
Second, thank you to everyone who made this event happen. To all the returning teams, being able to pencil you in each and every year makes planning a whole lot easier. To the first time teams competing this year (and there are a lot of you) I cannot thank you enough for believing in our event and the cause. My hope is you all become a returning team year after year. To my volunteers: I always say at the medals presentation I cannot have a tournament if I don’t have teams. I’ll also add, I cannot raise the amount of money we have without all of you and the countless hours put in to the event. I am forever indebted to you all for your kindness and generosity of your time. From a personal side: seeing all the phone calls, text messages, emails, and sleepless nights come together like it did gave me a feeling I’ll never be able to describe. More than anything I would love to share the moments with a certain little girl, but celebrating her life with you all is something I’m forever grateful for. To all my sponsors and vendors who contributed and donated, THANK YOU. Your generosity and contribution in a year filled with so much uncertainty and uneasiness for businesses is amazing. Lastly, to my wife, Heather: Off and on for 6 months (if not more) my mind is focused on this event. And, in her words, for 3 weeks in July, I block everything/everyone out with one purpose: a perfect event for a perfect little angel. Your patience, understanding, and eagerness to assist is unmatched to anyone I’ve ever been around. You loved Ryno like your own, which will always keep my heart full. I love you, and thank you! Stay tuned for a total donation amount, as well as details on the presentation of funds!! O, and ABSOLUTELY we’re doing it again next year!! I have every intention of watching the 7u kids (Ryan’s age group of kids) complete the run of divisions these next 8 years!! 💜💚❤️ Update: Friday games have been filled! Thank you!
We received word Wednesday morning (7/29) that we won’t have the fields available for our use on Sunday evening (8/9). That being said, we have no choice but to shift some teams to play Friday evening (8/7) starting at 5pm. PLEASE reach out to us ASAP if your team is open to playing pool play games Friday evening so that we can get a schedule out. (Bracket games will begin Saturday evening.) This would be so very helpful! If not, we understand. This was not part of our plan prior to this morning and we are doing our best to adjust. Thank you to everyone who is helping us with this adjustment and encouraging us to keep moving forward even with this nasty curve ball. CLICK HERE TO SEND US AN EMAIL IF YOU CAN PLAY ON FRIDAY Order your t-shirts now so that you can have them to wear at the tournament in August! Check out the options below, and then click on the KC Bleacher Mom Logo at the bottom to place your order directly with her! Unisex Soft Tri-blend Tees (4 colors)
Dry Power Performance Tee
Flowy Racerback Tanks (4 colors)
 Click on the KC Bleacher Mom logo to order your T-shirts and support the 2020 Memorial Tournament!
The 4th annual Ryan Grace Hampel Memorial Baseball Tournament is being held August 8-9, 2020. We are looking to have a bracket for 7u-14u, and we’ll also have a High School division as well this year. Currently we have 43 teams committed to the event.
Coaches, you will have the ability to play at either your spring or fall age. Please let me know during registration what age you wish to compete at. (Registration can be done directly thru Matt Hampel or here on our website) I don’t want to force your hand one way or another given USSSA’s new August 31st age cutoff. Most importantly, proceeds will go to Midwest Transplant Network in honor of my 3 year old organ donor and hero, Ryan Grace Hampel. We will have a 50/50 cash pot, memorabilia raffle items, gifts/etc to purchase, Cowtown Mini Donuts and Kona Ice on hand, and other avenues to help raise funds for our cause! Please share this on your personal pages, with your coaches, and anyone else who would be interested. As I have always said, I cannot have a tournament and make a generous donation without help from all the wonderful teams who participate! You can call Matt or send an email if you have any questions.  It sounds like baseball could be right around the corner!!
I’ve always been full disclosure on my event, and this year is going to be no different. Here’s where we stand:
I know there are many organizations and teams holding off because of other events rescheduling or they’re waiting to see where this whole mess goes. So long as Liberty Parks and Rec is open, we have a tournament site, a date, umpires, and vendors locked in. (And, worst case, we have alternate plans in place to raise money…) Please continue to share this event with anyone interested! All information can be found on here, on our Facebook Page or you can contact me (I love to talk!) Continued health and safety to you all!! 💜💚 Hi All!
I wanted to drop a quick note to simply say we are absolutely a GO for August 8-9...pending the release of our containment by then of course! Our dates and location (Capitol Federal Sports Complex/Fountain Bluff Sports Complex) is confirmed and deposit made. The 2 biggest ‘changes’ I wanted to post about are regarding the age divisions and the recent information handed down from USSSA. First, we will be adding a High School division as an option! With all spring sports being cancelled and high school teams unable to get any games in, I wanted to give the option for these kids to participate in our event. I will have it added to the new flyer being worked on. 2nd, now that USSSA has decided to push back the end of the spring season to August 31st (rather than July 31st) I want to give teams the option of either continuing their spring season or making the move up to their Fall age. I don’t want to alienate teams on either side by forcing you all to play at fall age one weekend and then the next weekend play a spring event (or vice versa.) For some of you, this involves changes in pitching/base path distances, machine to kid pitch, etc… Clear as mud? 😊 When teams commit to play, I will simply ask teams what age level they wish to compete at. This is not a sanctioned event, it’s open roster, and it’s for a WONDERFUL cause. Hope you are all safe and (reasonably) sane!!  It’s officially baseball season, right?! I cannot be more excited to share this post with you all! The 4th annual Ryan Grace Memorial is all set and ready to roll! We will be playing at the recently renovated Fountain Bluff Sports Complex August 8-9th this year! In years past, our number of fields have limited us on the quantity of teams we could host without either pushing into Friday evening or late Sunday night, neither of which I’m a fan of. However, with 9 fields to use at our disposal, I am hoping to have a bracket for each age group from 7u-14u…and that still leaves us 2 fields!! Based on years past, we have a couple age groups that tend to fill quickly, therefore we may have 2 brackets of the same age (based on competitive levels and/or number of teams.) Please reach out to me (if you haven’t already) and I’ll get you put down for your age bracket. All of the critical details are listed on this flyer (thank you Michele Howard and Pin-Up Marketing!) Please share this on your personal FB pages, with your child’s coaches, the organization your team is affiliated with, and/or any business owner who would like to be a part of this incredible event. We will have a raffle with cash, prizes, signed memorabilia, and more. We will also have sponsorship opportunities for businesses to participate with advertising. To all of the coaches who have played in this event in the past: you are my biggest cheerleaders. I hope you all have enjoyed playing previously and are planning to participate again this year. I also please ask you share your experience(s) with other coaches and invite them to partake this year alongside you! Finally, but most importantly…and you’re going to hear this a lot…THANK YOU to everyone who has either helped me along the road of planning; convinced me to continue to do this; extended their connections and/or talents to me; and so much more…I know I owe it all to coolest 3 year old guardian angel some of you had the opportunity to meet. And for those of you who didn’t get that chance, know this: she was the best, she was the funniest (just ask her!,) and she was the most loving angel. She’s worth every hurdle and obstacle along this journey, and together we’re going to raise a whole lot of money ($19,000+ over the last 2 years!) to positively affect people’s lives and families!! 💚💜  |
AuthorUpdates from the tournament organizer, Ryan's dad, Matt Hampel, and his amazing wife, Heather. 
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