Help MY Elementary School's Little League Team Get to Cooperstown

You don't realize youth sports' impact until you are well beyond your youth. It's sad...but also some of the best memories to hold onto.

As I near my 30s, even after playing competitive sports through high school and at the collegiate level, many of my favorite team sports memories come from my elementary or youth years.

Merrimac, MA, where I grew up playing youth sports, is a town with about 6,000 people. It is hardly 8 square miles. It is a classic small town in New England.

So when I found out my elementary school's baseball team was trying to get to Cooperstown, NY, I knew I needed to use my platform to help.

Since 1996, Cooperstown Dreams Park has played host to thousands of America’s youth baseball players providing young kids with the opportunity to compete against teams from other cities and towns across the country.

Cooperstown, NY is where the Baseball Hall of Fame is, and is considered “The Mecca” of the Little Baseball community.

Well, 11 of the best baseball players in teeny-tiny Merrimac, MA have been offered an opportunity to play there in a tournament next August (2025).

This group of kids have worked extremely hard every single year and finally, during the summer of 2021, reached the age where they could start competing in summer All-Star tournaments. During the summer of 2022 they won the Baystate Tournament for their division and in 2023 made it to the district Championship game of the Cal Ripken Tournament and in 2024, reached the Championship game of the Conway Classic, held in Tewksbury, MA.

Here is the thing - this trip is expensive. The team is trying to raise $30,000 to get every sixth grader, and their family, to this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

How can you help? Thanks for asking:

1. Donate directly to the Merrimac Hitmen team via Venmo: MerrimacCooperstown2025

2. Sponsor the Merrimac Hitmen Cooperstown Team by Thanksgiving (November 28th) and the team will showcase your company logo on their truck during the highly anticipated Santa Parade on December 1, 2024.

3. Join the waitlist for the team's upcoming Boccee tournament.

Let's pull together for the small town, my hometown, of Merrimac, MA. Let's get this group of hardworking sixth graders to Cooperstown, NY.

I promise this trip is going to be a highlight of their youth sports years that they will remember when they are 30, 40, and 50+ years old. Your small donation will go into creating a memory a sixth grader will hold onto for their entire life... any amount makes an impact.

Any donations are appreciated - make us proud Merrimac Hitmen!