Not surprisingly for someone who’s headed to the University of Maine to play the game at the NCAA Division I level, Riley Field originally came up with the idea of a marathon field hockey game to honor Cassidy Charette.
The more Field thought about it, however, the more it didn’t quite fit what she wanted to do to honor one of her best friends.
Kick Around the clock for cass
When; 9 a.m.-8 p.m., Sunday
Where: Alfond Stadium, Colby Collge
What: 11-hour soccer game to benefit ShineOnCass Foundation
Donations: For more information or to donate, E-mail: shineoncass@gmail.com
“Two years ago I had the idea,’I think it would be really cool to do a record-long field hockey game,'” Field said. “But then I realizd that soccer would make more sense because it was the game Cassidy played and loved.”
And so, Kick Around The Clock For Cass was born.
The event takes place this Sunday as an 11-hour marathon soccer game at Harold Alfond Stadium on the campus of Colby College involving more than 30 teams and 450 players of all ages and abilities. Play begins at 9 a.m. and continues non-stop until 8 p.m., culminating with an hour-long game between the Messalonskee High School girls team and the Central Maine United Under-18 team at 7 p.m. — two teams Charette was a big part of.
Charette, who was tragically killed in a hayride accident in the fall of 2014, wore No. 11 during her soccer career — hence, the 11-hour game.
“I hope that people just remember Cassidy and realize that after two years, we’re still doing things like this to homor her for being the amazing person and student she was,” Field said. “It shows the positive mark she left on everybody that she was around.”
Players pay a $10 registration fee to be part of the game with all proceeds going to the recently-formed ShineOnCass Foundation. A number of area businesses have come on board to donate food, water and other items for sale at the event.
By Wednesday evening, all of the available time slots for teams had been filled. Field had begun assigning some players to teams that weren’t quite full.
“Colby has been amazing. They were really quick to say yes to something like this,” Field said. “I thought we might have more of a struggle than we did. They have such great facilities over there, but Jacque Moore, their event director, was completely on board from the beginning. I can’t thank them enough.”
“It’s quite a group of people, and they continue to amaze me,” said Monica Charette, Cassidy’s mother. “It completely astounds me to see all the ways how people choose to shine her light.”
Charette said the ShineOnCass Foundation is in the process of becoming a full-fledged 501c3 non-profit organation, pending final approval. The Charettes decided to go the route of starting a foundation after receiving such overwhelming support from the community.
The foundation hired a board of directors and their first task was to determine a recipient for the Cassidy Charette Scholarship, Charette said.
Currently, the foundation is involved with the Big Brothers Big Sisters Of Mid Maine, Cass’ Kitchen and Cassidy’s Kids at the Mount Merici School.
“There’s no end to what people want to do. They don’t want to forget Cassidy,” Charette said. “They have an intense desire to live out her legacy for her, and it’s incredibly humbling.”
Travis Barrett — 621-5621
tbarrett@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @TBarrettGWC
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