ABILENE, TX— The FCA All-star Festival set to take place June 7-13 of 2020 has been canceled.
Big Country FCA Director Andy Penney said, “It’s going feel weird this summer when June rolls around and were not exactly sure what to do with ourselves.”
Every summer for the past 21 years, the Big Country FCA gathers the region’s best athletes to compete one final time at the high school level. The event reaches 37 Big Country communities.
“We did finally, under the direction of our national FCA office in Kansas City, decide to cancel our FCA All-Star Festival June 7-13 here in the Big Country. The directive from Kansas City from their standpoint is that all FCA events in the month of June, which is camps, all-star festivals, et cetera were either canceled or postponed,” Penney said.
While there were discussions about postponing to July, there were too many logistical pieces needed in place to keep the event alive.
Penney said, “We had 323 representing 71 high schools with 36 coaches involved and, yes we do get to showcase them and honor them as an athlete, but for us it’s a ministry opportunity.”
While the events last for only a week, the Big Country FCA has worked on the operation since the start of the year.
Penney said, “The teams are selected in January and then we meet them in a public gathering in February. Then we try to be strategic over the four months between February and June to invest in those families and students.”
Baseball, softball, basketball, volleyball, the inaugural golf tournament, and the 21st football game will be put on hold until 2021.
Penney said, “The major piece they’re going to miss out on is the opportunity to build some new friendships.”
The Abilene, Brownwood, Eastland, and San Angelo communities expecting to host events will now have to sit and wait for next year.
Penney said, “As far as where we sit today, we’re all systems go for 2021.”
