- April 23, 2024
-
-
Loading
Loading
The youth and high school football players, cheerleaders and fans in the area are wearing pink in October to raise awareness for breast cancer, just like their counterparts you'll see on TV.
BY MATT MENCARINI | STAFF WRITER
If you turn on any college or professional football game in October, chances are you’ll see one thing in common: pink.
With October marking breast cancer awareness month, teams, programs and schools across the country are doing their part to raise awareness and money to fight breast cancer. And so are some local ones.
The Seabreeze High School football game on Oct. 5 was a pink out, featuring a pick-clad student section and pink socks for the Sandcrabs on the field.
The Ormond Beach Pop Warner team showed off pink socks, armbands, and sleeves for the players, and hairbows for the cheerleaders.
The Ormond Beach Pride players and cheerleaders were also sporting pink items to show solidarity and raise awareness.
“It’s kind of cool to see them express themselves and show support in their own ways,” said Pride President Brian Colubiale, adding that the players were allowed to wear any pink items they wanted, and can continue to do so throughout the month.
The pink-out for the Seabreeze game against South Lake was organized by the Seabreeze Movement Against Cancer (SMAC), a student run organization.
“Our goal is to build awareness about this cancer that's touched so many lives,” said faculty advisor Josie Bell. “And it turn encourage people to donate to help find a cure.”
SMAC, whose slogan is “Let’s talk some SMAC against cancer,” raised $237 selling pink cupcakes during the pink-out game.
The group’s goal is to raise $600, topping the $500 it raised last year, for the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk, Oct. 27, which is organized by the American Cancer Society.
For the youth football players, who can be as young as 6 years old, the message behind wearing pink may not always make an impact.
“The little ones, they don't understand,” Ormond Beach Pop Warner President Greg Schwartz said. “Some of the older Mighty Mites do. They’re 9 or 10 years old. They know what cancer is and what the awareness is for.”
But even if the younger players don’t fully understand the affect cancer, and breast cancer specifically, has on families, they can still learn a valuable lesson.
“The kids, they enjoy it and like changing the uniform up and being different and being involved,” Schwartz said. “If you show them to be involved now, they’ll be involved later.”
