Playing in pink
Local student athlete and team promote breast cancer awareness
By Sean Hart
Argus Observer
SeanH@argusobserver.com
Saturday, November 28, 2009 10:06 PM PST
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| Vale High School girls’ basketball team members, Brooke Hawkins (from left), Ducki Mason, Darylyn Capps, McKenzie Morcom, Mary Pozzi, Shelby Mooney, Becca Hawkins, Amy DeLong and Amanda Browen, pose in their new pink uniforms that Pozzi purchased as part of a project to promote breast cancer awareness. The team will wear the uniforms at pre-season home games and at an honorary game for breast cancer victims Feb. 12. |
VALE — The Vale Vikings girls’ basketball team won’t be dressed in its traditional black and white uniforms for some home games this season, but the change is not for aesthetics.
Sporting new pink and white attire, the team will spearhead a local crusade to improve awareness about breast cancer.
Mary Pozzi, a senior at Vale High School, came up with the idea as part of her required senior project and raised funds to purchase the uniforms, which will be worn at all pre-season home games — possibly all home games — and at a special game Feb. 12.
“I was trying to look for something unique that no one in Vale has ever done before. I wanted to go into the medical field, so I wanted to do something in the field,” Pozzi said. “There’s a lot affected (by breast cancer) in this community, so I thought they would benefit from us taking a stand for it.”
Pozzi said she began fundraising for the uniforms in September.
“A lot of businesses are really supportive,” she said.
Pozzi then purchased 14 uniforms for $820 from an online merchant, which also donated $5 per uniform to a breast cancer-related cause, she said.
“Our high school is going to keep them, and next year, our team will wear them for a couple games,” she said. “They’re going to keep doing it, carrying it on.”
Pozzi also bought pink breast cancer awareness emblems to sew on the boys’ basketball team’s home uniforms, she said.
In addition to the pink apparel, Pozzi said she plans to collect money for the Kay Yow/WBCA (Women’s Basketball Coaches Association) Cancer Fund, a nonprofit women’s cancer-fighting organization named after the legendary women’s coach who died of breast cancer earlier this year.
“At (home) basketball games, we’re going to have a donation box for the Kay Yow foundation at the games, and I’m also selling wristbands,” she said and added she hopes to involve the community. “We’re actually having an honorary game Feb. 12, and we’re inviting people in the community who have had breast cancer as special guests.”
Pozzi said she knows several local people who have had breast cancer.
“There are teachers, women within the school district, who have had it, and one of my friends’ moms had it too,” she said. “One of them went through treatment and lost her hair. ... It’s a sad thing.”
Although she said she hadn’t researched it enough to formulate a solid opinion, Pozzi wasn’t sure she agreed with the new breast cancer-screening recommendations that state women should begin screening at age 50 instead of the previous guideline age of 40.
“You should be aware about your body. If there’s something you’re worried about, don’t be hesitant to go in,” Pozzi said. “You don’t have to be old to get breast cancer. I think that I’d probably want to be tested at a younger age.”
For more information about Pozzi’s breast cancer awareness project, visit its Web site, www.marysseniorproject2010.com.
Another team member, Darylyn Capps, is also organizing an assembly on breast cancer with a guest speaker to be held Feb. 11 or Feb. 12 at Vale High School, assistant coach Tom Huston said. Check the Argus Observer for the latest information.
Lifestyle Editor Sean Hart can be contacted at SeanH@argusobserver.com.
Susie from Klamath wrote on Dec 4, 2009 3:05 PM:
This young lady has gone far beyond the requirements of a senior project. This is truly what senior projects are intended to do. Learn a life lesson and make a difference.
Unfortunately there will always be people that will find a negitive in what you do, but as I have found in life, those people tend to find negative in most aspects of life.
Negativity breeds controversy which in turn stirs the emotions of people who believe in the positive. Therefore we stand up and take action. This as I see it turns the negitive to a positive.
As for the uniforms. The ribbons are fantastic, but we as humans become desensitized to things after a period of time.
You notice the uniforms more than a ribbon.
When the NFL wore their Pink uniforms and pink shoes you could not help but think of the reason for it throughout the whole game.
My understanding is that these will be wore 10 times this year and several games each year after. Therefore saving wear and tear on their perfectly good uniforms which means the black and white uniforms will not have to be replaced as soon.Wow! that's great!!
My Mother lost a breast to cancer 10 years ago. Although she is a survivor, she deals with the affects everyday of her life.
Thank God there are young people out there that care enough to make a difference. These young people are our future and deserve our respect...... "