Mar 26, 2007

Wagner's Florida Challenger Baseball Festival

NEWS RELEASE - for immediate release - 03/26/07

Wagner's Florida Challenger Baseball Festival will be held at the Lee County Sports Complex in Fort Myers, Florida, on Saturday and Sunday, May 5-6. 
The Festival will feature as many as 40 teams and 400 to 500 Challenger athletes from across the state of Florida.  Each registered team will play two games on Saturday and one game on Sunday.  Games will begin around 10:30 a.m. on Saturday May 5.  All Festival games and activities will be held at the Lee Complex, 14411 Six Mile Cypress Parkway.

This is the 5th annual event for the Challenged Athletes.  The first two Festivals were also held in Fort Myers.  The past two years the Festival has been held in Venice, Florida.

The Challenger program is baseball designed for mentally and physically challenged youth and adults in an athletic environment structured to their abilities.  The athletes come from programs such as Challenger Baseball, a program of Little League Baseball, and Florida Challenged Athletes Association, an AAU program.

Playing with exuberance and determination, these kids experience the same joys of pulling together as a team, receiving the cheers from the fans and the respect from all who watch them play. 

The Festival is named for Robert (Bob) Wagner, a Fort Myers resident who championed the cause and fund-raising for Challenged Athletes through his annual adult baseball tournament at Terry Park, Wagner's Wooden Bat Classic.  It was Wagner's dream to have a statewide Baseball Festival for the Challenged Athletes; however, he passed away in the fall of 2002, prior to the inaugural Festival in 2003 at Terry Park.

So far, the following organizations have committed to assist or sponsor the Festival:  Lee County Parks & Recreation, Rawlings Sporting Goods, Wagner's Wooden Bat Classic, Fort Myers Miracle, Bonita Springs Lions Club, Kiama Custom Apparel and Roy Hobbs Baseball.

Contact Rocky Barron at 239-390-1747 or 239-292-7857 or  rbarron1@comcast.net or Kathy Samson  at 239 267 2417.    

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