______________________________________________________
NEWS RELEASE

2nd Annual William Wiersma Golf & Disc Tourney comes back to Santa Barbara

This sticks and discs event retains its spirit of fun and collaboration

Santa Barbara, CA – (April 10, 2009) – For a second consecutive year Montecito Country Club will play host to the William Wiersma Golf and Disc Tourney. It will all take place on Thursday afternoon, October 15, 2009. The William Wiersma Golf and Disc Tourney, Will’s Tourney for short, is a unique collaboration of stick and disc golfers. Stick and disc players run the links side-by-side to raise money for the William Wiersma Memorial Scholarship at Westmont College.

Don’t just innovate. Collaborate! is once again the theme of the event. The theme and concept of the event arise out of Will’s appreciation for anything associated with collaboration, Ultimate Frisbee and quality time with old and new friends.

Unlike conventional fund-raisers, this Best Ball/Best Disc tournament is an innovative event that puts stick golfers and disc golfers on the same course at the same time.

Last year, Innova Discs, donated the Disc Golf baskets and arranged the disc golf course layout.

“The three registration levels ranging from Current Students, to Recent Grads to All Others makes the event accessible to just about everyone. And we think this approach makes for an even more innovative and collaborative afternoon,” said Will’s dad, Tom Wiersma.

Far from being a Westmont-only event, Will’s Tourney is open to everyone. “You don’t have to be a Westmont alum, a member of the Montecito Country Club, or even be a good golfer to play – I know because I’m none of the above,” Wiersma went on to say.

About Will Wiersma and the William Wiersma Memorial Scholarship at Westmont College.

William Jae Wiersma graduated from Westmont College in 2006 after spending his senior year studying at Oxford University in England. He graduated magna cum laude with a degree in Political Science / International Affairs.
Will was a joyful Christian and his faith was openly integrated into the skills he used to be a gifted student, a talented athlete, an accomplished traveler and a loyal friend in addition to being an avid collaborator. He understood that although sometimes a challenge, collaboration yields real benefits by preserving the integrity of individual ideas while also combining and expanding them to create the most effective actions, decisions or results.

Collaboration is a process that requires considerable skill. And a liberal arts setting like the one at Westmont and Oxford encourages and hones collaborative thinking. The William Wiersma Memorial Scholarship will provide need- and merit-based funds to incoming freshmen at Westmont College and the hope is that they too will grow to exhibit an innovative and collaborative life.

William “Wheels” Wiersma was an accomplished Ultimate Frisbee player. He played Ultimate in Grand Rapids, Michigan, his home. He captained Westmont’s Bandicoots to a regional berth in Colorado Springs in 2004. He helped take Oxford’s OW! to the Division 1 University playoffs in Cardiff, Wales in the spring of 2006 — and he helped the Santa Barbara Gendors emerge from the Regional Tournament in Phoenix in the fall of 2006 to capture a berth in that year’s Nationals.

Will died in a tragic automobile accident on October 1, 2006 returning from the regional tournament in Phoenix. Late in 2007, a scholarship was set up by Will’s family — Tom, Laura and Will’s sister Natalie at Westmont College to honor the principles of collaboration for which Will stood.