"I didn't know it was a huge problem until the first year I played," Courtney says. "Everyone was wearing pink. People were coming together to fight this thing."
Bickel says the tournament has raised $100,000 over the past three years for Susan G. Komen. The fourth-annual tournament will be June 20-21, 2015, at France Ryan Park in Escondido, Calif. The goal is to raise $45,000 over the weekend.
Gabriel Murrieta, development assistant for Susan G. Komen, San Diego, is the liaison between Bickel and the nonprofit. Murrieta grew up playing for the Poway soccer club and lost her mother to breast cancer when she was 15. Three years ago, when she began working with Susan G. Komen, the Kickin' It Challenge was just beginning. Now, Murrieta says it is one of her favorite events they do all year.
"I'm connected to it because it is both of my passions combined," she says.
Murrieta says every 75 cents per dollar donated goes back into the San Diego community. That money helps pay for mammograms, surgeries, meal deliveries and anything else someone may need. Murrieta says the event is successful because it unites all of the soccer clubs instead of teams playing for themselves.
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"In the soccer community, this is the only event like this," she says. "Usually, the money that people pay into a tournament goes back to the club. That is why this tournament is unique, because the money goes to Susan G. Komen."
Now, the Kickin' It Challenge it spreading to more states. A second tournament, Kickin' It Challenge, The Carolinas, was held in South Carolina in May.
Bickel's son is now in college, and while she doesn't have any children in youth soccer clubs anymore, she says the Kickin' It tournament has become a special part of her life.
"It's life-changing," she says. "It's empowering."
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