YORKTOWN, Va. (WAVY) — For years, Tammy Guido was the ultimate soccer mom.
“That was all I did. Practices every evening, games every weekend, it was a grueling schedule, but it was one that we loved.”
But after Tabb High School’s homecoming dance last fall, came a tragedy no one saw coming. Tammy’s son Conner was one of the three 16-year-old boys who died in a car crash that night.
“Everything changed in the blink of an eye,” said Conner’s friend Kynedi Crawford. “Conner was there, and then he wasn’t.”
“Kynedi called me and said, ‘Ms. Tammy there’s been an accident. And I knew. I knew at that moment he was dead. I don’t know how I knew, but I knew.”
Some time passed, the initial shock subsided, and Conner’s family got to work.
“We needed to find some way of honoring him and creating a legacy for him. We felt very strongly about that,” said Daniel McGee, Conner’s stepdad.
They set up the Gweedo Memorial Foundation to fund a scholarship in Conner’s name.
“It’s for an athletic senior but it’s also for somebody that embodies Conner’s personality which is fun loving and caring and helpful,” explained Tammy.
To raise money for the foundation, Tammy is organizing an indoor soccer tournament for the weekend of March 14.
The owner of the Premier Sports Center in Yorktown is donating the use of the facility for the tournament. Conner’s friends, teammates and the community are all creating teams. They hope to have all participating teams signed up by March 5. If you want to put a team together, you can register here.
For those interested in applying for the scholarship, visit the Gweedo Memorial Foundation’s Facebook page to request an application.
Conner’s family wants the weekend to be about more than soccer.
“Unfortunately I think maybe boys more than girls think they’re invincible. And they’re not. We’re sitting here because of those choices,” Tammy said.
To bring an educational element to the tournament, they’ve partnered with the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office, the DARE program, and the 3D program. Tammy hopes educating young drivers will prevent another family from the tragedy she lives every day.
“Not long after Conner passed there was another child who was doing 100 mph and Snapchatting it while he was driving. Those are the people that we need to get ahold of. Those are the people that we need to make sure that they understand the impact of their decisions.”