He's going to try to hit a ball—a golf ball.

And even though he's going to be hitting golf balls instead of baseballs, he still has his doubts.

"I can drive the ball real well, but other than that, I'm playing 'marching army,' " Simontacchi joked. "It goes left, right, left, right, left."

"I hate losing, I hate it bad," he continued, his competitive streak coming out. "But I've accepted the fact that I'm not good at it." And he's determined because this time it's for an important cause.

Simontacchi will be taking part in the Jason Simontacchi Charity Golf Tournament at Coyote Creek Golf Club, benefiting the Autism Project PTA, an organization dedicated to supporting educational programs for autistic children in the Bay Area.

Inspired by working with his brother John's autistic son, also named John, Simontacchi got involved with the organization last year, and when former organizers of the benefit tournament stopped doing it, he stepped in with his brother in September to put the benefit back together.

The Autism Project PTA works as a liaison between two autism groups in the Bay Area. The Autism Project is a Santa Clara County program that provides 38 classrooms in local schools for the education of autistic children with special needs. The Parents and Teachers Association is an organization that provides support and education for the parents and teachers of students in those classes. The Autism Project PTA works with both, to provide support for the classes as a whole.

The project's historian, Roseanne Duncan, said the money raised from the charity tournament will be divided among the classes to give teachers the resources to take students on field trips or to sponsor exciting activities.

Simontacchi said the tournament is the largest single source of funding during the year for the project, so when he and his brother began planning in September, the pressure was on for them to succeed.

Due to community support and the involvement of a major league ballplayer like Simontacchi, the tournament quickly filled up, with golfers from all over the country filling the 144 spots, each paying a $200 entry fee.

"Everybody I talked to was like 'This is awesome, I'm going to be there,'" Simontacchi said. "Everybody who said they were coming is going to be there."

After the golfing portion ends, there will also be an auction of items, some collected from ballplaying friends and teammates of Simontacchi, to raise more funds. Companies and individuals can also sponsor raffle items and gifts for those in attendance.

In addition to raising money for autism classes, Simontacchi and Duncan are both excited about being able to draw attention to autism in the Bay Area.

According to the project's website, the number of children with the neurological disorder is growing, and it has become the fastest-growing developmental disorder in California.

The Autism Society of America estimates that between two and six children out of every 1000 children has autism, and Duncan said diagnosing autism can be difficult because of the wide spectrum of symptoms children exhibit.

Duncan's niece and nephew are both "high-functioning autistic" children and are able to respond verbally to input. Simontacchi's nephew is non-verbal, meaning that he can understand what his family tells him, but cannot respond.

Both said that learning how to help an autistic child is often the largest hurdle to helping them, because there is so little education for families available, outside the project's affiliates.

"I think some people just might not know how to deal with these children, how to accept them, and help them improve their lives," Duncan said.

Beyond educating the families and friends of autistic children, Duncan and Simontacchi said they want to let everyone in the community know about autism, so everyone can work together to help those with the disorder.

"I hope that everyone who comes to the tournament will walk away with a better understanding of what autism is," Duncan said. "We want our kids to be able to live a normal life in the world ... and we hope that the bigger community is aware of how to talk to these kids and how to work with them."