I was heartbroken yesterday to hear about the passing of five year-old Mia Deligeannis, who fought bravely against childhood leukemia for three years of her life. My thoughts have been with her and her family since I heard the news. I never met Mia and have only met her dad once but I was inspired by her toughness and her bravery through so much pain. No child or family should have to go through what Mia and her family went through and though Mia may have passed, the memory of her and her bravery lives on and will continue to touch, inspire and help others.

One way to honor Mia and help her family and families in the same situation is to come to the Friends of Mia Alumni Soccer Tournament on Saturday, June 9th at South Sound Stadium. The tournament will feature eight teams comprised of soccer alumni from Timberline, North Thurston, Olympia, Capital, Tumwater, Black Hills, Yelm and River Ridge High Schools. The teams will play a round robin tournament starting at 8:15 AM and the top two teams from the East and West division will move onto the semifinals with the final game scheduled for 4:15 PM that afternoon.

To play in the tournament, there is a $50 donation to Friends of Mia. Players receive a tournament jersey, there will be a post tournament party and winners get a keepsake and have bragging rights to the FoM Trophy displayed year round at O’Blarneys. If you would like to play, you can sign up and make your donation on brownpapertickets.com. If you have any questions, please contact me at olysportsblog@gmail.com or contact your alumni representative. You can find their information on the tournament’s Facebook page. And while you are at it, please share the page with your friends. Spectators are free but donations will gladly be accepted.

Please come out and support your favorite high school soccer alum and the Deligeannis family. It will be a really fun, hard fought tournament – the first of it’s kind between Olympia area high schools – for a good cause and in memory of a tough little girl.

Rest in peace, Mia.