CULLMAN, Ala. – Football season is on everyone’s mind right now but there will be a couple of special events involving some other sports going on this weekend before local teams hit the gridiron. This year’s Cullman High School Alumni Soccer Game will be Saturday, August 17th at 6 p.m. on the soccer field and the following day, the CHS Alumni Baseball Game will be held at Bill Shelton Field, starting with a meet and greet at 1 p.m. followed by a home run derby at 1:30.
CHS Head Baseball Coach Brent Patterson looks forward to event each year not only because it’s a fun way to support the program but also because friends and family get to meet and reunite that may not get the chance otherwise.
“It’s a great event and we look forward to it. A lot of guys from out of town come and we get to see their kids and families. It’s exciting to connect the different ages and let guys put faces to the stories they’ve been told over the years. We think that no matter when they played, every person has had a role in creating the program that we know today,” Patterson said. “It’s also fun for the children to get to see their dads out there having fun and hitting home runs in the home run derby, or at least trying to. Hopefully having it this weekend along with our annual golf tournament will make it easier for folks to get back and get to participate in the event.”
Hundreds turned out for last year’s soccer game and the event has consistently been growing for the last couple years. This year, there will be a few alumni games built into the evening. There are over 40 alumni participating that will be split into four teams that will each play two, 30-minute matches. The games will be eight versus eight contests, starting with the Grace’s Retreat/Littles’ On the Lake Elaine’s Nightmare vs. Nationwide Canopies Shady Andrews at 6. Dreher’s Destroyers and the Culpepper Real Estate Cooper Troopers will follow them for game two at 6:35, Dreher’s Destroyers will take on GR/LOTL Elaine’s Nightmare at 7:10 and the night will wrap up with the Cooper Troopers matching up against the Nationwide Canopies Shady Andrews at 7:45. CHS Soccer will be accepting donations at the gate.
CHS Head Soccer Coach Casey Harbin is excited for another alumni game after the success of last year’s event but this year, he’s going to take a little stress off of everyone’s legs and hopefully give the crowd a more entertaining product as well.
“We really tried to think about ways we could improve on last year and as I was looking at it, I thought our biggest issue last year was that everyone was gassed. None of us were in shape to really play 11 v 11 so I thought you know, why don’t we shrink this field and play 8 v 8 and see how it goes,” Harbin said. “I really think that it’s going to be a lot more entertaining for the fans this time around. 8 v 8 should give us more shots, more goals and just more action in general.”
Harbin believes the best thing the event does is bring players, friends and family from across multiple eras together but as a bonus, donations collected during the game will go to help support the soccer program.
“Every bit of donations helps us and last year we were able to fix some things that we weren’t really planning on fixing but because of this event we were able to fix them. It’s mostly just to host our alumni, let them know we appreciate all of our history and you know, if we can make a little money and set that towards the program’s future, we’re also good with that.”
The alumni baseball game itself is set for Sunday afternoon but there will be some other activities this weekend leading up to the event. This year’s CHS Baseball Saturday Scramble will get underway at Terri Pines Saturday at 2 p.m. The event will be a 4-man scramble and the cost per team is $400. For more information on the tournament you can contact Joey Robertson at 256-590-3396.
There will be an opportunity for fans, current, former and future players to meet the CHS Soccer alumni while they’re in town before Saturday’s action at Goat Island Brewing Friday night at 7 p.m. There will be a live band and food available for guests who come and participate in the meet and greet.
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