Games For a Cause

The Saturday after Christmas (28 December), I drove to the Immacolata Catholic Church (https://www.immacolata.org/index.cfm) in Richmond Heights, for the 11th Annual Mary McDermott 3rd Grade Basketball Tournament. This tournament for Catholic Youth Council (https://playcyc.org/) boys and girls teams is a fundraiser for SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital (https://www.ssmhealth.com/locations/cardinal-glennon-childrens-hospital). Specifically, for a hybrid cardiac catheterization suite named in memory of Mary McDermott, an Immacolata parish member who died at age 24 in 2008.

After paying my admission, I entered the gymnasium to watch some of the games that day. I also met with my friend, graphic designer and soccer commentator Bill McDermott--Mary's father. I gave him my Season's Greetings and best wishes for this tournament. Bill served as the public address announcer for the event, which ran for three days and included eight boys and eight girls teams playing in a double-elimination format.

I got lunch from the concession stand--a hot dog and a soda--and watched three games during my time there. Before leaving the gymnasium, I looked over the silent auction items in the lobby, which included autographed sports jerseys and tickets to sporting events. I didn't bid for them--the cost was too high for my budget--but was glad for the parties who donated to this effort.

Yesterday (4 January), I was at Worldwide Technology Soccer Park in Fenton to join with my fellow St. Louligans (https://stlouligans.com/). We were playing the St. Louis Chapter of American Outlaws (https://www.theamericanoutlaws.com/chapters/missouri) in our annual game. It was a fun game, played at West Technology Stadium--home ground of Saint Louis FC (https://www.saintlouisfc.com/). Urban Chestnut Brewing Company (http://urbanchestnut.com/) donated cans of its Zwickel and American Underdog lagers to the event, and I took advantage of this to get two cans during the day.

Before the game, we took in the club's introduction of Steve Trittschuh as its new head coach. He replaces Anthony Pulis, who is now assistant coach of the Miami club in Major League Soccer. After this announcement, we got to the pitch and played. It had free substitutions during the match, and I came in and out a few times for St. Louligans. I did get a few touches of the ball playing as a defender and midfielder. American Outlaws won by a big amount, but the real winner on the day was the St. Louis Area Foodbank (https://stlfoodbank.org/), which will get much food donated by the game's players and spectators.

I hadn't run like that for quite a while and I was concerned about how my recently sore knees would hold up, but I came off the pitch with no ill effects.

Later.