Winning team to be announced in Sept. and will receive $2K for registration fees

The Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America and USA Softball announced today that the Bright Light Award, presented by ASA/USA Softball and Musco Lighting, will continue to honor community service and volunteerism for a fifth year.

Created in 2011 to honor an ASA/USA Junior Olympic (JO) team that has shown a commitment to its community through service and volunteerism, applications for the Bright Light Award are available online at USASoftball.com.

Any community service and/or volunteerism conducted from January 1, 2015 through August 31, 2015 will be considered for the honor and must be 100% volunteer in nature (no payment).

Applications will be accepted until September 1 with the winning team being announced the week of September 14.  The Bright Light Award winning team will receive $2,000 towards registration fees for any 2016 ASA/USA sanctioned tournament in the United States.

The winners will also be honored with 20 “Bright Light” T-shirts for their roster and staff as well as a banner for display.

The award presentation will take place on Sunday, November 1 in Louisville, Ky., at the ASA/USA Annual Meeting Opening Session. (Winning team will receive one hotel room for two nights; must pay own travel costs.)

The Utah Liberty Softball team (Sandy, Utah), led by coaches John and Codee Flores, earned the 2014 Bright Light Award after putting in over 100 volunteer hours last year.

Causes such as The Wounded Warrior Amputee Softball Team, Brylee in 5 (The Children of the Earth Foundation), The Fight Against Childhood Cancer, The Road Home Homeless Shelter in Salt Lake City, and the Swing for Life Softball Tournament (raising awareness for Breast Cancer Research) are just a few of the causes these young athletes have volunteered at and supported through community service.

“As coaches, we are honored to have the opportunity to coach these young ladies and have them be a part of our lives,” said Co-Head Coaches John & Codee Flores.

“We cannot even begin to measure the ways these young women and their parents have touched our lives and the lives of so many others. We are extremely proud of each and every one of them.”

The winning team will be selected by a panel of administrators from ASA/USA Softball and Musco Lighting using the following criteria for evaluation:

• Service must be 100% volunteer in nature (no payment)
• Service must be performed as a team with 75% of the roster in attendance
• Team must be ASA/USA Registered by August 31, 2015
• Service must take place from January 1, 2015 to August 31, 2015
• Panel will take into consideration the following: Positive effect on community, number of people affected, impact of service to the team, total number of hours and participants

The application can also be found at teamusa.org/USA-Softball/Play-ASA/Youth.

The deadline for submission is September 1, 2015, and the winning team will be announced the week of September 14. Applications must be submitted via email or mail to Codi Warren atcwarren@softball.org or ASA/USA National Office, Attn: Codi Warren, 2801 N.E. 50th St., Oklahoma City, OK 73111.