Posted by Audrey Nelson
The Skidmore College volleyball team faced Middlebury College on Oct. 12 dressed in pink.
The game kicked off the team's participation in Dig Pink, a nationwide event to promote breast cancer awareness. During October's role as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Side-Out Foundation, a Virginia based organization, annually runs their event, Dig Pink to help raise awareness and funds for breast cancer victims and survivors.
On entering the Sports and Recreation Center Gym, a donations box and several informational brochures greeted spectators and revealed the initiative behind the abundance of pink covering the floor as well as the bleachers.
The team encouraged spectators to wear pink to the game, and did their part by wearing special made pink T-shirts when on the bench.
Many of the 150 attendees also sported pink in support of those affected by breast cancer. Everything from the head coach, assistant coaches and the volleyball itself wore pink in efforts to raise awareness.
In last year's event, Skidmore raised $3,350, contributing to the organization's total earnings of $420,000 in donations. Over 800 teams participated in Dig Pink last year.
As of Oct. 13 during this year's event, Skidmore has raised $1,980. Already reaching 79.2 percent of their goal, the team hopes to raise at least $2,500. The team will also be collecting donations during both home tournaments: the Skidmore Classic, which will take place Oct. 22-23, and the Skidmore Invitational, scheduled for Oct. 29-30.
Donations are also accepted at Skidmore's branch of the event's website at https://www.side-out.org/application/teams/team_page/1841.
The field hockey team will also be collecting donations for cancer research during their game against Williams College. Field Hockey vs. Cancer, will be held on Oct. 17 at 1 p.m., but the team will be collecting donations throughout the day.