DALLAS (December 7, 2018) – TeamConnor Childhood Cancer Foundation is committed to Smashing Childhood Cancer and has slated the second annual event for Saturday, February 2, 2019. The event will be held at Lifetime Fitness Plano’s indoor tennis courts (7100 Preston, Plano) located on northeast corner of Legacy and Preston.
Smashing Childhood Cancer kicks off at 2:00 pm with registration followed by the first session of drills starting at 3:00 pm. The second round of drills begins at 6:00 pm. Ten tennis pros from Gleneagles Country Club Plano, LifeTime Tennis Plano, The Lakes Academy Frisco, Canyon Creek Country Club Richardson, Bent Tree Country Club Dallas, Stonebriar Country Club Frisco, and Stonebriar Ranch McKinney will be leading the drills. An exhibition match between pros will be featured from 5 – 6 pm.
Formerly ranked #21 in the world, Taylor Dent will serve as Honorary Chair for the 2nd Annual Smashing Childhood Cancer event. Dent won the Association of Tennis Professionals titles in Newport in 2002 followed by Memphis and then Moscow. He reached the finals of three additional events of the tour. His victory in Memphis is still often referred to as his most impressive victory, as he beat future World No. 1 Andy Roddick in the final.
“Thousands of children are diagnosed with cancer each year and anytime we lose a child to cancer, families, and communities suffer,” said Joy Cruse, founder of Dallas-based TeamConnor Childhood Cancer Foundation. “Smashing Childhood Cancer will help us draw more awareness to childhood cancer, as well as raise much needed funds for research.”
Eleven-year-old Luke Scott of Plano has been named the Honorary Hero for Smashing Out Cancer. Luke has been fighting B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) since the age of eight. Luke is home-schooled and currently attends the T Bar M Tennis Academy. Luke started playing tennis before he was diagnosed but had to give it up for 9 months during the intense chemotherapy treatments. After nine months, he jumped back on the court still continuing light chemotherapy; traveling to Florida, California, and selected by the United States Tennis Association (USTA) to represent Texas in the 2017 Border Battle (Texas vs. South West). Luke ended chemotherapy in July 2018 and hopes to be a professional tennis player some day.
Registration for Smashing Childhood Cancer is now open for the February 2th tennis event. The clinic and exhibition match includes two hours of tennis drills, food and beverage, raffle prizes and exhibition game. To register individually or as a ten-player team, visit www.smashingoutcancer.org.
Every year, more than 12,500 children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer in the United States. Childhood cancer is the number one disease killer of children, yet the budget of the National Cancer Institute allocates less than four percent of its funds to pediatric cancer research. TeamConnor Childhood Cancer Foundation is dedicated to raising awareness and funding research and treatment programs to find a cure for all childhood cancers and to date has donated more than $2.6 million.
TeamConnor hosts several events throughout the year to raise funds and awareness for childhood cancer research, including the 15thAnnual III Forks Golf Classic, May 5, & 6, 2019; Splash Out Childhood Cancer, Summer 2019; and the 9th Annual Northwestern Mutual Clay Shoot, November 4, 2019. For more information on how to join the fight against childhood cancer, please visit teamconnor.org or Facebook.com/TeamConnor.
