The day after Seattle's Sunday Night Football matchup with the Carolina Panthers, Steven Hauschka and his Seahawks teammates will suit up for another primetime event, as the kicker hosts his second annual celebrity ping-pong tournament fundraiser for Mary’s Place and the No Child Sleeps Outside campaign.
In recent seasons, ping-pong has become a popular activity inside the Seahawks locker room, where two tables are set up on either side of the always competitive players-only area. And the 31-year-old Hauschka is widely considered the team's best ping-pong player, "I think I am right now," he says. "I've been playing a lot of guys leftie, which is fun."
Fans looking to challenge one of the team's best at table tennis will get that chance from 5:30 - 9 p.m. PT on December 5 inside the West Club at CenturyLink Field, where Hauschka and other ping-pong enthusiasts will square off in a single-elimination tournament and challenge other celebrities to exhibition matches, all for a good cause.
"It's going to be really cool," Hauschka said. "We're going to get a bunch of my teammates there. Guys love ping-pong in the locker room, so I think they'll have fun coming out there. A bunch of celebrities and then we're going to have a great tournament there with some really competitive players."
The list of celebrities includes University of Washington head football coach Chris Petersen, who's scheduled to partake in the event just days after his team plays for the Pac-12 championship against Colorado in Santa Clara, California.
"Coach Petersen's really good," Hauschka said. "And we'll have a bunch of other local table tennis players there in a competition, a round-robin competition and I'll be involved in that. Then we'll have a bunch of people who can kind of play against some of the celebrities in teams of two. That'll be really fun."
General admission tickets run $25 with premium and VIP tickets also available. Entry to the 12-player single-elimination tournament with Hauschka and other celebrities runs $1,200, with all proceeds from the night going to Mary’s Place and the No Child Sleeps Outside campaign, which provides homeless Seattle families — mostly single mothers with children — with shelter, nourishment, resources, healing and hope in a safe community.
"Homelessness is definitely becoming an important cause here in the Seattle community, especially before the winter months come and the weather gets real cold," Hauschka said. "We want to make sure that no child sleeps outside during the winter. Mary's Place is awesome and it's great to give back to a great organization like that."
Funds from Hauschka's second-annual celebrity ping-pong tournament will help Mary's Place raise money toward a $500,000 goal to open a crisis-response winter night shelter for the more than 550 Seattle-area families that sleep outside each night.
"Everyone deserves a chance to sleep inside, especially during the winter and especially the women and the children," said Hauschka. "I think a lot of people are realizing how important an organization like Mary's Place is in the community."
For more information about the early-December event, including how you can attend, head to www.marysplaceseattle.org.
Steven Hauschka hosted a Celebrity Ping Pong Tournament in Seattle with other local celebrities including Seahawks Legend Jim Zorn which benefited the Mary's Place and the No Child Sleeps Outside campaign that aims to bring families without a safe and dry warm place to sleep.