February 14, 2024
As the 2024 schedule unfolds for Triple Crown Sports, we’ll take time to recognize and acknowledge the variety of support we get from the people who make our events happen. Players, coaches, administrators, city partners, field crews, onsite staff – it’s a deep bench that Triple Crown Sports relies upon to create valuable, life-long memories for teams. The dedication to detail from our roster of partners provides the heartbeat of TCS events. The year-long celebration is called “All In” and we’ll kick it off this month with a profile of Beckie Mathis, club administrator for the Arizona Storm fastpitch program.
Q: Let’s begin with a broad description of your tasks with the club.
A: My responsibilities include building team budgets with coaches, setting fundraising goals, updating our website with team and roster information, invoicing each month for dues, handling all financial aspects including but not limited to paying for tournaments, field rentals, batting cages, reimbursements for travel and equipment purchases, etc. I also plan our annual banquet and manage the Strong Together Foundation.
Q: When are you just absolutely slammed with admin work, and when does it calm down a bit? How does the club year unfold?
A: My busiest times are August through October as the season is ending and the new one is beginning, getting the teams established and set up for a successful season. The next busy time is the month of January as I am preparing and planning our annual Storm banquet. This year we are anticipating 900-1000 people in attendance. We do a Banquet raffle with each girl in the program participating in raffle ticket sales to help pay for the banquet as well as shower the girls and families with gifts and prizes from the raffle sales. My load lightens from February to May as half of our teams go dark for the high school ball season. Then the craziness of summer starts up again with traveling to five or six different states in a 3-month period of time. I tag along with my husband on these trips and work from the various hotels, Airbnbs and our own travel trailer that we stay in when in California for summer tournaments.
Q: How long have you been in this role, and how has it changed over time?
A: My husband, Corey Mathis, officially became the president of Arizona Storm in December of 2017. I began my role in Storm around spring of 2019. At that time we had 15 teams and it was definitely a learning curve for me as I had come from a medical background with no experience in softball other than my husband coaching and our kids playing. I own my own business as an ultrasound technologist and we also ran a construction company together in addition to running the Storm club. Juggling all of that was overwhelming so when my husband and I had the opportunity to retire from construction we put all of our focus on Arizona Storm.Softball has always been my husband’s happy place and he is very passionate about what he does and brings to these girls' lives and futures. I wanted to support him in that and create a role of my own that would benefit the club and make it successful and sustainable for growth. Fast forward to today, we now have 27 teams which requires me to focus on softball full time. We are busier than ever but we truly both love what we do and look forward to a long future running this program for these young ladies.
Q: Any anecdotes about working with families that made you feel proud or excited to be in your position?
A: We have encountered many scenarios where families are going through a tough time, whether it’s loss of job or loved ones, divorce or just regular day-to-day financial struggles that we all face. My heart has always been heavy in wanting to help these families however we could. On one occasion we were able to raise some money throughout the organization and donated money ourselves to help a family that was facing multiple medical procedures and at the same time dealing with the loss of a family member in another country. It was such a rewarding experience to be able to help with the financial strain of the travel, funeral and medical expenses burdening that amazing family.We are so grateful that we have the opportunity to step up and help families in need when life throws them roadblocks that could very easily throw them off the path of playing college softball. Helping them achieve their dream of playing softball in college and earning their degrees is why we do what we do. We have created a foundation that we call The Strong Together Foundation where people and businesses can donate to sponsor girls that need help with dues, equipment, uniforms, college camp costs, etc.
Q: How about keeping work and family comfortably separated?
A: As a blended family with seven kids between the two of us, we are constantly juggling work and family time. Our kids' ages range from 28 to 16 years old. Our 21-year-old is autistic and loves animals as much as I do. We foster dogs for the Arizona Humane Society in the winter months when there’s less travel. We take care of nursing moms and their litters until they reach 8 weeks old and are able to be adopted out. It’s a very rewarding thing for our family and it gives my son and me a project outside of softball.When home in the summer we try to go to the lake as much as possible and bring kids along with us to California for family beach time between Corey’s games. We have family in Colorado so the Colorado 4th of July tournament is always a favorite to get some family time in. Working from home helps us in being able to spend as much time with kids as possible. We also make it a priority for just the two of us to get away each year on an anniversary trip and disconnect from work for that time. Once or twice a year I will tag along with my husband to Texas or Georgia and bring a good book or a list of shows I want to watch to just reset, recharge and catch up on rest. Those are my personal favorite!
Q: Do you do anything to celebrate the end of the club season, a reward for a job well done?
A: I have to laugh at this question because there really is no end to the season for me. We immediately start back up with forming teams, coordinating tryouts and starting up the new season with coaches meetings, budgets, etc. We honestly get our rewards all throughout the season. Every time a girl commits to the school of her dreams, the smiles and the laughter from the girls while playing the game that they love and MY biggest reward is seeing the happiness in my husband doing what he loves every day. The rewards are endless just like the softball talk in our home.
