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As a sport management major, I’ve had the pleasure of taking the Event Execution Capstone this semester. With the help of my group and the direction , director of athletics, and Andrew Beardsley, associate director of alumni networks and affinity programs, I’m excited to announce the University’s upcoming Kick For a Cause event!

In class, we are tasked with creating, planning, and hosting some form of sporting event while raising money for a charity. My group and I decided on a kickball tournament held at Kathy Zolad Stadium, with all proceeds going to . The event will be taking place on April 22, and everyone can to sign up for a team.

The kickball tournament has a $5 entry fee, and we are accepting full teams of 10 to 12 players. Those who don’t have a full group can still sign up. The tournament will begin at noon, and each game will last four innings, with a mercy rule of 10 runs. Each team will be placed in a bracket, and each game will be an elimination game. Once there are only three teams remaining, the team with the highest run differential (runs scored – runs allowed) will get a bye into the championship round. The winners of the tournament will receive merchandise from the equipment room!

‘A great sense of pride’

I’m in charge of social media and communications for the event. Currently, I am running an Instagram account for the event (), where I will be posting updates up until the event and highlights on the event day. My main focus is to get as much attention to our event as we can so that we can raise money for a great cause and so that everyone will have have as much fun as possible.

There is a lot that goes behind creating an event such as this one, so this journey and this class have allowed me to understand the amount of effort it takes for event organizers to host a fully operational event. I’ve learned so much thus far, and I know this will help me in the future.

I feel extremely grateful for the opportunity to able to create an event from scratch with my group. We know Make-A-Wish is a well-known organization, so my entire group feels a great sense of pride knowing we are helping them out. Not only do all proceeds go to this great cause, but with finals creeping up soon after April 22, we wanted to give all students a way to get out of their residence halls and have some fun before a time that we know can be stressful.

My group is extremely excited, and with our event approaching, we cannot wait to see everyone out there!

Nicholas O’Brien ’25 is a sport management major at the University of New Haven.