BOSTON, Mass. – Helping to raise awareness for breast cancer, on and off the court, the Wentworth women's basketball team will be one of over 1,800 institutions and organizations joining the Women's Basketball Coaches' Association 2011 Pink Zone™ initiative when the Leopards take the court against Anna Maria on Saturday, February 5. This initiative is a global, unified effort for the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's (WBCA) nation of coaches to assist in raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond. While this year's campaign runs from February 11-20, Wentworth will be doing its part during the team's final Saturday home game of the season.
In 2007, more than 120 schools unified for this effort and helped make the inaugural year a success. In 2008, over 1,200 teams and organizations participated, reaching over 830,000 fans and raising over $930,000 for breast cancer awareness and research. The 2009 campaign raised over $1.3 million, reached over 912,000 fans, unified more than 1,600 participating teams and organizations, and saw 56+ schools break attendance records at their event. In 2010, over 1,800 participants came together to surpass $1,045,000 in donations and reached more than 922,000 fans across the nation. Over 22 schools broke attendance records through their participation. Overall, the WBCA Pink Zone has raised nearly $3.3 Million, has reached almost 2.7 Million fans, and has unified over 4,700 participants in only four years.
Wentworth's women's basketball team will eschew its normal gold warm-up tops for a specially designed t-shirt, as well as wearing pink shoelaces. Members of the event management staff will also be donning breast cancer awareness t-shirts. These t-shirts will also be on sale the day of the game and by contacting the women's basketball office.
The women's game will start at 1:00 p.m., and will be followed by the Wentworth men facing Anna Maria at 3:00 p.m. Admission to both games is free. In addition to Wentworth being a participant in the Pink Zone, senior Kirsten Vallone will be honored prior to the game as a part of the program's "Senior Day."
All proceeds from t-shirt sales and a 50/50 raffle will be donated to the Kay Yow Cancer Fund™, which was created in partnership with The V Foundation for Cancer Research in December, 2007. The fund is named in honor of Kay Yow, the longtime women's basketball coach at North Carolina State University, who passed away in 2009 after a lengthy battle with Breast Cancer.
"The women's basketball team feels very fortunate to be working with the WBCA and the Pink Zone™ campaign," said Wentworth head women's basketball coach Amanda Rodgerson. "We are excited to be hosting the event on February 5 where we can raise breast cancer awareness and honor everyone who has been affected by this disease."
