A group of Washington’s most powerful women are lacing up their cleats and heading to the softball field to support breast cancer survivors.
During the 7th annual Congressional Women’s Softball Game, female members of Congress will face off against a group of some of the most formidable opponents Washington has to offer: female members of the press.
The game began in 2009 when a bipartisan, bicameral group of female politicians, including breast cancer survivor Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Florida, brought together their colleagues on the Hill to play a charity game benefiting young cancer survivors.
The members played against a bipartisan group of female staffers and lost. They invited the press to play beginning in 2010.
Since the event began it has raised over $500,000 for the Young Survival Coalition, the country’s largest organization dedicated to those diagnosed with cancer before 40. Younger cancer survivors face their own set of issues after battling the disease.
“Let’s say you’re diagnosed in your 20s or your 30s, and in some cases even your early 40s, and you’ve not yet had children, but you’ve learned that you have breast cancer. How are you going to deal with preserving your fertility and also going through chemo? How do you deal with dating issues?” Wasserman Schultz said.
This year the Congressional Women’s Softball Game introduced the Survivor Connection, which serves to highlight how many people are touched by cancer. Each player shares her digital softball card with someone in their life who has battled cancer.
With months of practice beginning in April and attendance requirements, the players take the game and their rivalry seriously.
“In 2012, I won my election to Congress and I joined immediately,” Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Arizona said. “I was just so excited to be part of such an awesome, bicameral, bipartisan group of women.”
When asked what makes them more nervous — giving a speech in Congress or playing the softball game — Sinema and Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio both emphatically said it’s the game.
The members have a 2-4 record, but are the defending champions heading into the game on June 24.