By C. Brandon Chapman, College of Education
PULLMAN, Wash. – For a group of WSU sport management students, the fastest way to help children might just be tossing a baseball.
The students put on Cougs for Children, a speed pitch contest held on Glenn Terrell mall and the Beasley Coliseum concourse over the weekend. Hosting a fundraiser is a fundamental component of the Sport Management 489 capstone class.
“The students have to use all the management, marketing, legal, communication and operations skills they’ve learned about in class and put that to the test,” said professor Chris Lebens. “They have to put together a successful event. We simply choose to do charity events because it’s who we are and it furthers the philanthropic mission of the university.”
“This has been a blast,” said senior Levi Stewart, who helped organize the event. “We’ve had lots of participation, the weather’s been great and the money will all go to a good cause.”
The cause is the Seattle Children’s Hospital Stanley Stamm Summer Camp where children with serious illnesses take part in outdoor activities like fishing and horseback riding for a week. They camp near Mount Rainier, and on-site medical support makes participation accessible to children who can’t normally go to camps.
Prizes for fastest pitch during the weekend contests included Cougar apparel, gift cards and a signed Cougar football helmet.
A couple men pitched in the high 80s and one touched 90 a few times. But, as senior Chad Kebba pointed out, most participated not to win but to help.
“This was just classic Cougs helping Cougs,” he said. “We had all different levels of athleticism but everyone took the competition as a friendly one.”
More details can be found at http://mckebba.wix.com/cougsforchildrens or by contacting Levi Stewart at levi.stewart@email.wsu.edu.