Soccer cancer event plans gala in Poway on June 26

Come out and kick up your heels for a good cause on Friday, June 26.

The Kickin’ It Challenge, a San Diego soccer event that raises funds for the San Diego affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Foundation, will be holding its inaugural Gala Bash from 6 to 10 p.m. Friday, June 26 at Old Poway Park, 14134 Midland Road.

Tickets are $75 per person or $550 for a table of eight and are available through Monday, June 15 at www.kickinitchallenge.com. This is a 21-and-older event.

The gala will include a buffet, beer and wine, a DJ and a silent auction. It will be catered by Shells Kitchen, a Poway business, and the dress will be “country cocktail.”

“We’re really excited and looking forward to (the gala bash),” said Pam Bickel, founder of the Kickin’ It Challenge. “We’re looking forward to bringing the spirit of the tournament to Poway.”

Bickel said that they were hoping to have 150 people at the gala, and would like to raise $50,000 between the gala and the soccer tournament, which will be held Saturday, June 20 and Sunday, June 21 at Ryan Park in Escondido.

Some of the items that will be auctioned off at the gala bash include a 18 karat Penny Preville pendant with .35 carat total weight of diamonds, donated by Leo Hamel Fine Jewelers and an autographed Hope Solo jersey.

The Kickin’ It Challenge was started in 2011 when Bickel, a Poway Vaqueros mom, noticed that the fellow mom she was speaking to was wearing a wig. “We lost a team mom to cancer in 2010, and then in 2011, a friend and I realized the woman we were talking to had cancer as well,” said Bickel.

Bickel decided to do a soccer tournament to raise money for cancer research in honor of her fellow soccer moms dealing with the disease. “It was tough to do a tournament, because there are so many in San Diego,” she said. “How do you get people to come play in my tournament?”

She did figure it out, and the Kickin’ It Challenge was a success in its first year. This year, Bickel said they had to turn away over 20 teams who wanted to register because they were full. “There’s between 100 and 110 teams, with roughly 1,800 kids playing,” she said. “Over the tournament weekend, there will be between 6,000 and 7,000 on the field.”

The best boys team and the best girls team of the tournament win free entrance into next year’s tournament. “Some coaches ask six months in advance when the tournament is,” said Bickel. “It’s really turned out to be a fun event.”

Since its beginning, the Kickin’ It Challenge has raised over $100,000 for the San Diego affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Fondation.

The tournament is held in Escondido, though Bickel said they wanted to hold it in Poway. “It was born out of Poway soccer, but there isn’t a venue in Poway big enough,” she said.

In 2013, Bickel was contacted by a group in South Carolina who wanted to do a Kickin’ It Challenge there, and Kickin’ It for the Carolinas was born. Bickel said she got the idea for the gala from attending a kickoff event at Kickin’ It for the Carolinas. “It was a really great event,” she said. “We decided to do it as well.” Bickel said she expects the attendees to be a mix between soccer fans and non-fans.