On Saturday afternoon, Feb. 16, in the West Los Angeles College gym, the women’s basketball team will play L.A. Valley in a special game to benefit the American Cancer Society.
Tickets are $5 for the 3 o’clock event that is part of a far larger promotion to benefit the Cancer Society.
“Coaches vs. Cancer” is a collaborative initiative of the men’s and women’s California Community College Basketball Coaches Assn. and the American Cancer Society.
This is a statewide effort to raise funds at various games throughout the season to fight cancer. Funds will be pooled and donated at the state championships in March.
Colleen Matsuhara, West’s women’s coach, and her staff will wear sneakers instead of dress shoes with their attire.
By lacing up sneakers with their dress clothes, participating coaches nationwide will spotlight the fact that while cancer remains a major health concern, everyone can take daily steps to reduce the risk of the disease by not smoking, by weight control, by regular exercise and by maintaining a healthy diet.
“Coaches vs. Cancer” is a year-round link that empowers basketball coaches, their teams and communities to join the fight against cancer.
“The program,” said Jim Satalin, director of the Coaches vs. Cancer, “draws from the personal experiences, community leadership and the professional excellence of coaches to increase public awareness of the mission to save lives, prevent cancer, and raise funds to fight the disease.”
In addition to Coach Matsuhara and her staff, active participants who support the Society through the Coaches vs. Cancer program are some of nation’s top figures, including Mike Krzyzewski of Duke; Pat Summitt, late of Tennessee; Geno Auriemma of Connecticut; Jim Boeheim of Syracuse; Roy Williams of North Carolina; Mark Few of Gonzaga and Kay Yow, former coach at North Carolina State.
Many women’s basketball programs around the country have instituted a similar fund raising effort called Play-4-Kay.
For 34 years, Sandra Kay Yow was the women’s coach at North Carolina State, 1975 to 2009. A member of the Naismith Hall of Fame, she had more than 700 career wins and coached the U.S. women’s team to an Olympic gold medal in 1988 despite having been diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987.
Coach Yow died four years ago this month following a long battle.
For information, see www.cancer.org/coaches.
Coaches vs. Cancer participants have raised nearly $60 million since 1993 to help the Society save lives by educating and empowering people to avoid cancer or find it early.
They have helped people facing cancer make decisions and overcome obstacles in their personal fight, investing in research that yields groundbreaking discoveries into cancer’s causes and cures, and helping pass laws that fight cancer and keep our communities healthy.
For information on West, see www.wlac.edu
Ms. Long-Coffee may be contacted at LongCofm@wlac.edu
