Tag: John Downey

The results!

Well, we will be doing a full tournament analysis sometime over the next couple of days, but for those of you who are wondering how the tournament ended up …

We had a record year for profits, due in part to a very generous donation from anonymous donors.

We will be giving away $10,000 to charity this year!

Bruyere Foundation will be the recipients of most of our proceeds, with $8,750 going to their very worthy organization. We are giving our money in memory of Eleanor Thompson, the matriarch of the Thompson family from our tournament, who we lost this year. We are proud to provide the Foundation of such a wonderful hospital with such a significant donation.

We will also be giving the Township of Osgoode Care Centre a donation of $750 for their wonderful help at our Saturday barbecue. We appreciate the volunteers coming out to help us every year, and we are happy that we can count on them to feed us all day long! Thanks to Leo Noiles and his staff for their continued support of our tournament!

We will also be giving the Osgoode Youth Association a donation of $500 for helping us keep the kiddies busy with our Kids Corner. They provided us with staff all weekend for kids’ face painting, crafts and candy sales. We are very grateful for the wonderful organization of Nicole, Sara and Anne. We will definitely be calling you to help again next year! 🙂

I will expand on the tournament results in the next post, but it’s worth noting that the Brogan team won the A Division handily this year over the Holmes family. Both undefeated in the round robin, this was a surprise defeat by the Brogans, with a final score of 26 to 3. The Brogans take home the A Division ‘John Downey Memorial’ Trophy for a superb result this year. The Kelly family took the B Division title this year over the Blanchfields. The game was close at 13 to 9, but the Blanchfields just couldn’t pull ahead of the mighty Kellys. (That’s okay,  Kellys will have fun in the A Division for next year!) The Kellys get to put their name on the B Division ‘Dick Blanchfield Memorial’ Trophy for this year …

Many thanks are coming, as are details and stories of this year’s event, and photos too!

Come back in a few days to check us out! There is MUCH more to come!

Thanks to everyone who played or helped out in any way. We rely on you every year to put together and take apart this wonderful event.

How Did We Begin?

The Family Ball Tournament is a fun, fund-raising tournament that began 17 years ago in the village of Osgoode. Marty Kelly and his family established the John Downey Memorial Family Ball Tournament after John ‘s fatal car accident following a ball tournament in Ottawa.

Our tournament is comprised of 16 ‘all-family’ teams that play three-pitch in two divisions over the course of a weekend. While the competition is generally friendly, the teams compete for the coveted trophies: the “A” trophy – the John Downey Memorial Trophy, and the “B” trophy – the Dick Blanchfield Memorial Trophy.

The tournament takes place at the Osgoode Community Centre each year, on the ‘weekend after the long weekend’ in August.

It has been said that the weekend is like holding 16 simultaneous family reunions, and indeed there are families who plan their family activities and vacations around the tournament (many coming in from out of town), knowing that they can see many old friends and family in the relaxed atmosphere of the weekend.

The Family Ball Tournament selects different charities each year to direct the proceeds of the tournament, and tries to focus on a major charity as well as one or more local charities, as proceeds allow.

Most of our families have been a part of the tournament for many years (some have been in for all 16 years). Team names like Kelly, Blanchfield, Downey, Quinn, Thompson, Doyle, Bracken, Brogan, Chambers, McEvoy, Moloughney, Dewan, Bekkers, McCloskey, Rowan, Sloan, Brophy and Churchill and their extended families all come out to enjoy the Family Ball Tournament each year. The tournament is limited 16 teams for logistics, and indeed there is a waiting list of families waiting for someone to drop out so that they can get in.

The families involved in the tournament do more than play ball, they volunteer their time to organize, set up, tear down, cook & serve refreshments, umpire & scorekeep, among many other things. The tournament would not survive without the extensive volunteer initiative by our dedicated families.

The Family Ball Tournament is entering the next generation, with many of the original team players stepping aside to let their children play, making it a great family event all around. There are as many spectators as players, and it is always a great social event, as well as really great ball!

In addition to the ball games, there is a licensed refreshment tent, live entertainment in the evenings, and kids activities.