Three Georgia Club Programs Unite for Tryouts & Raise Money To Fight Ovarian Cancer

It’s that time of year when club softball programs are lining up their 2018-19 teams, but in Georgia last weekend three top organizations united to hold their tryouts together while creating a unique way to raise money to combat ovarian cancer.

Club directors Will Tomasello of the Georgia Impact, Todd Jennings of the Atlanta Vipers and Jay Worley of Georgia Academy Power came together last Sunday for the third year in a row to help parents and players maneuver what is normally a very chaotic day.

Instead of competing against one another for time slots and forcing parents to pick and choose clubs, the trio of organizational leaders decided to work out a plan to eliminate player and parent anxiety.

“The process of tryouts in Georgia is exacerbated by the fact that the players here compete in fall high school softball and Sunday is the only day they can do tryouts,” explains Tomasello.

To facilitate families making all three tryouts if desired, the clubs layered the age group workouts versus overlapping them, meaning a parent and athlete could attend all of the club tryouts in one day.

A 14U player, for example, could start the day with The Impact from 9 am-11 am, then could travel 10 minutes to the Vipers tryout from 12 pm-2 pm and then drive another 10 minutes to the Georgia Academy Power tryout from 3 pm-5pm.

“This dramatically cut down the commute time between parks and the risk of injury,” added the Impact director. “The response has been overwhelmingly positive. Parents remark how much easier it was to plan the day and not get caught up in Atlanta traffic.”

But this year’s tryouts also had a poignant purpose: to honor and raise money in the memory of Alex Wilcox, a beloved player from the South who played for the Birmingham Thunderbolts and Mississippi State University before succumbing to ovarian cancer in June at the age of 18.

“Going into the tryouts, there was the lingering effects of the loss of Alex,” Tomasello stated. “Never before has one player galvanized a softball community like Alex; she was the epitome of courage and strength.”

With the support of the Wilcox family, the three directors also agreed that their clubs needed to take up the Ovarian Cancer Challenge: in lieu of charging a tryout fee, the clubs made it mandatory that all players trying out for the clubs make a small donation in Alex Wilcox’s honor to the Geaux Teal foundation, which has been supported and promoted by LSU head coach Beth Torina after her mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

With over 400 players attending the tryouts, the one day of Georgia club team tryouts raised in excess of $4,000.

“I can’t speak for all the directors,” Tomasello continues, “but there was a real sense of purpose this year at the tryouts. In addition to the players’ donations, random people were walking up and donating. While they may have had no idea of who Alex was a player, cancer has touched their lives too and this was their way of paying it forward.”

But the efforts to honor Alex Wilcox doesn’t stop there for Tomasello, who also leads Legacy Events which runs top tournaments and showcase such as the Atlanta Legacy and Scenic City Showcase.

Those two elite events, along with the TBolts 5-Star Exposure showcase, have come together to create the Alex Wilcox Classic which will be played next June 25-29 at the Boombah Sports Complex and Boombah Soldiers Field in Seminole County, Florida.

“It’s amazing how the tragic loss of someone can inspire people to act,” Tomasello says. “With the support of the family, we will be launching this annual tournament and are partnering with the Geaux Teal organization, the Mississippi State University Alex Wilcox Scholarship fund, and the American Cancer Society.”

“Our goal and mission for the event is three-fold:  celebrate the life of Alex, raise and donate money in her honor and raise awareness of ovarian cancer for all female attendees.”

The event will also include a two-day softball clinic in the two days prior to the tournament that culminates in a dinner to introduce the Wilcox family, experts in the field of cancer research and other special guests.

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Note: a website will be created to go live at the end of August with registration information for teams interested in attending; Extra Inning Softball will have more on the event as details are released.