Mother Nature couldn’t put a damper on a mission to “kick butt” over the weekend.

Youth from Elizabethton, Johnson City and Kingsport met inside East Tennessee Sports Complex at Star Fitness Saturday afternoon for the second annual kickball tournament to celebrate Kick Butts Day — an initiative to encourage children and teenagers from across the country to stand up against tobacco usage.

Sponsored by Carter County Drug Prevention Coalition, the Carter County Health Department and Grow Carter County, the tourney featured eight teams from across the region and a multitude of spectators all joining in for fun and the mission to spread awareness about “Big Tobacco.”

“The event really surpassed our expectation,” said Kelli Humphreys, with the health department. “Especially with the weather, we’re glad to see the turnout for this event.”

Humphreys, Jaime Lawson and CCDP Director Jilian Reece each helped spearhead the event and were quick to find a suitable backup site after the plans of using a softball field fell through due to inclement weather.

“We really want to thank Star Fitness and Witten Huddle for letting us use the gym this weekend,” Reece said. “It was a quick notice and they were more than willing to help. We really appreciate them going out of their way to host us.”

The official Kick Butts Day, which started in 1986, was recognized on March 21 but kickball organizers noted that the best opportunity to hold the event was during the weekend to make sure all teams could attend.

With over 1,000 events taking place across the country this year, the weekend endeavor allowed the youth to delve into different concepts, highlighting the need of tobacco cessation with their peers.

Following each game, students were able to sign a banner pledging their support for the day. Competitors also worked alongside their peers to gather signatures to pledge their support of not using products.

It’s nothing out of the ordinary for the sponsoring organizations. The TNSTRONG Youth Board works together with the different organizations by talking with children from the area and letting them know the risk involved with smoking and other tobacco products.

Youth board members have been busy on different projects, varying from receiving pledges to trying to acquire signatures to pass legislation geared to stop adults from smoking in cars with children.

To learn more about the board or other events going on locally, visit the Carter County Drug Prevention Coalition or Grow Carter County Facebook pages. Individuals looking to stop smoking can use the state’s quit line — 1-800-784-8669.