Falcon volleyball hosts 'Think Pink' event
October 2, 2008
With October being Breast Cancer Awareness month, the UW-River Falls women’s volleyball team will host its inaugural “Think Pink” event. The WIAC has partnered with the Susan B. Komen Foundation in an effort to raise money for breast cancer. All nine teams in the WIAC will be involved in at least one “Dig for the Cure” event during the month of October.
“All the volleyball coaches got together, maybe a year ago, to discuss the possibility of doing something to raise awareness,” Head Coach Patti Ford said.
UWRF will play UW-Eau Claire on Oct. 8 at 7 p.m. in the Karges Gymnasium. The first 200 fans in the door wearing pink attire will receive a free Falcons volleyball t-shirt.
As the Falcons prepare for this event, all the players have a goal of collecting $500. Players have been going around the campus and community to gather pledges and donations.
People have the option of making pledge amounts for every dig the Falcons record, or they can make flat donations. A dig is the ability to prevent the ball from touching the ground after a spike.
“I have been pushing the players to go out and gather donations for a couple of weeks now,” Ford said.
Elizabeth Braun, one of the players on the team has been gathering donations for a week-and-a-half.
“Its difficult because there is no set amount and some people are going to base it on how many digs there is in the game.” Braun said in a phone interview.
According to the WIAC Web site, the average digs for each WIAC team is close to 20 per set.
During the match, the Falcons will be wearing pink warm up shirts, pink shoelaces, and pink hair ribbons. There will also be a booth set up outside Karges for people to make donations.
“I think that it is good because it gets the campus and the community involved and helps raise awareness for something that has affected a lot of people.” Braun said.
Even though the event has yet to take place, Ford said she is already looking ahead.
“I am sure that this will become an annual event,” Ford said. “It’s a great promotion, a great rivalry and a great way to involve the campus and community.”
Komen for the Cure is the world’s largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors all dedicated to the fight against breast cancer.