By Brittany Burke
As we all know, October is breast cancer awareness month. This means for 31 days everything that can be turned pink most likely will be. I have water bottles with pink labels, pink potato chip bags and pink yogurt lids to mention a few.
Sports teams are also participating in the efforts, whether it be a top tier professional team or not. Television screens and newspapers are littered with pictures of athletes with pink shoes, pink socks, pink gloves, and in the case of the NFL, pink ribbons on the back of the players’ helmets.
Fans can even buy merchandise in pink, which supports breast cancer awareness. Personally, I just spent $65 on a pink zip up track jacket with a patch that boasts, “NHL Fights Cancer” with the Bruins logo on the back, but I was proud to do it.
I was okay with spending close to $100 on a jacket as a broke college student because the money was in support of a good cause, and will continually raise awareness for a disease that affects many, whether directly or indirectly, and that’s what Breast Cancer Awareness is actually what it’s all about.
It’s not just about turning every consumer product pink for one month, it’s about making a difference and becoming one step closer to finding a cure, which is why in this month more than any I am proud to support and write about CCSU Athletics.
In the past month the athletes at CCSU have shown a different side of the athletics program, going beyond the field and court to step out and help the community.
On Sept. 25 head football coach Jeff McInerney, accompanied by his staff and football team participated in Coach to Cure, which raises money and awareness for duchenne muscular dystrophy.
One week later the CCSU men’s basketball team headed to Bushnell Park to do their part in the Memory Walk in support of the Alzheimer’s Association. The Blue Devils managed to raise $730 for the cause in their fifth year of participation. A total of $200 million has been raised by the Memory Walk event.
To close out October the women’s volleyball team will host the Dig!Pink event against Quinnipiac on Oct. 23. The Blue Devils have joined forces with the Side-Out Foundation to bring the Dig!Pink fundraiser to CCSU to spread the word and raise money for breast cancer research. The Blue Devils have pledged to raise $500 for the cause and have currently raised $275.
The various charity participations show just what type of program CCSU has formed. It all comes back to what Athletic Director Paul Schlickmann talked about at the beginning of the semester.
At the beginning of the year Schlickmann passionately spoke about his athletes being honorable while in uniform and out, which meant getting involved in the community. He wanted to teach them lessons that they could carry with them past graduation, so far he seems to being doing just that.
This past month shows that CCSU population can look to its athletes as more than just the men and women in a blue in white uniform, we can look to them to proudly represent our school.
The athletes are doing their part, now everyone should take a page out of their playbook and get involved to make a difference. Volunteer, make a donation, support volleyball on Oct. 23 or buy something pink, no matter what you do or what organization you choose it will make a difference, not only in October but in the 11 other months as well.
