Kirk Ferentz and the University of Iowa’s football team are pleased to announce the sixth annual Ladies Football Academy, a fundraiser for the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital.
The 2016 Ladies Football Academy will take place Saturday, June 4, from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at historic Kinnick Stadium. Women of all ages are invited to join Head Coach Kirk Ferentz and the Iowa Football Team for the ultimate Hawkeye football experience.
Participants will spend the day with the players and coaches, learning the game and getting a rare, behind the scenes look into Hawkeye football. Enjoy exclusive access to the new Hansen Football Performance Center, including a special strength, conditioning and nutrition presentation in the state-of-the-art weight room, and photo ops with all the trophies. Be ready to experience the adrenaline rush of swarming Kinnick to “Back in Black,” kicking a field goal or scoring a touchdown. Participants will also get a close look at the infamous pink locker room.
“Ladies Football Academy is a fun way for women to get involved at the University of Iowa – not only to learn more about our team, but to support a great cause,” said Mary Ferentz, chair of the University of Iowa Children's Hospital Council. “It’s exciting to see so many Hawkeye fans fill the stadium and invest in the future of the children’s hospital.”
“It is our goal to inspire women to team up for our future champions–our children–while having a great time,” Mary said. “We have a world-class hospital, with outstanding doctors, and medical support staff, right here in Iowa. It is important that we support them and the families who have loved ones battling an illness or disease when they need it most.”
Registration for the event is $50 per person, with an additional $500 donation to the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital. Women are encouraged to take advantage of the Ladies Football Academy’s online donation service to help raise funds for the cause by establishing their own fundraising page.
All money raised goes to the University of Iowa Children's Hospital. In its first four years, the event raised $1 million for the new children's hospital, currently under construction and on schedule to open this December. The next million dollars is pledged to support pediatric research.
“UI Children's Hospital has some of the best research scientists in the country,” Ferentz adds. “It is research that keeps medicine moving forward and gives hope – hope for better ways to diagnose, treat, cure, and even prevent illness and disease.”
This year, the team recognizes Honorary Captain Christopher Turnis who will lead the “swarm” on June 4.
Christopher is the son of Kristina and Ron Turnis of Dubuque. He was diagnosed at 30 weeks in utero with a life threatening condition that causes chronic kidney disease. He was born six weeks early, and spent the first six weeks of his life in UI Children's Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), receiving lifesaving specialty care available nowhere else in Iowa.
After 40 surgeries, more than 100 hospital admissions equaling 1000 nights in UICH, Christopher will turn 11 this September. This Hawkeye fan is always there with a smile and a joke and continues to inspire everyone who meets him.
In addition to being 2016 Honorary Captain of the 2016 Ladies Football Academy, Christopher is also the 2016 Iowa Ambassador for “Champions Across America,” a national advocacy program of Children’s Miracle Network. Through this program, he will represent the 10 million kids treated at Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals every year. He will share his story, and what the lifesaving care he receives at UI Children’s Hospital means to him and his family, with media, lawmakers, and people all over the nation, to raise awareness and support, not just for UI Children’s Hospital, but CMN hospitals nationwide.
For more information on Christopher and the event, and to sign up for Ladies Football Academy, visit www.iowaladiesfootballacademy.
