Coronado, Foothill help raise $3,000 to battle breast cancer

By Jared Harmon

Thursday, Oct. 23, 2008 | midnight

While the Coronado and Foothill girls volleyball teams battled each other on the court Oct. 16, the real battle was against breast cancer as $3,000 was raised for research at Coronado’s Dig Pink night.

Both the Cougars and Falcons donned pink and white uniforms, distinguishable only by Foothill’s pink socks, while fans were encouraged to wear pink shirts and participate in a raffle to raise funds for Side-Out, a breast cancer research and awareness organization.

Coronado coach Brock Mitchell was pleased with the hard work from the school and his team to make the night a success.

“We had great support from the school and the fans both for the Dig Pink night and for the volleyball team,” Mitchell said. “We had a great turnout and we had a lot of cheering, which was kind of new to us. I’m real excited to see how well people responded to this.”

Mitchell agreed to host the event when contacted by Side-Out. He said breast cancer awareness is an important issue for everyone, especially the girls on his team.

“Coaching young women, I just felt that this was something that was important for all of them,” he said. “For most of them this was a first exposure type of thing. It’s important to get kids educated early on about the magnitude and reach of the disease.”

Money was raised through ticket sales, a raffle and online donations. Side-Out founder Rick Dunetz said the $3,000 raised puts Coronado as one of top five fundraisers in the organization’s four-month, 800-school existence.

“Coronado is right up there near the top. They went all out,” Dunetz said. “We’re all about raising awareness and money and having fun, but we also hope that we can inspire even one person. Whether it’s someone living with cancer who’s inspired to keep fighting or a student who’s inspired to raise money on their own.”

Coronado won the match 3-1 to push its record to 7-3 in the Southeast Division, while Foothill dropped to 3-7. Foothill coach Krysta Ortiz said the event offered a unique opportunity for the Falcons.

“We were all for participating in something like this as soon as I heard about it,” Ortiz said. “It’s a chance for the team to come together and fight for a common goal. It’s a way to be involved in something and also be competitive.”

Coronado senior middle blocker Mikayla Delobel said it felt good to look at the crowd dressed in pink supporting the event they put so much work into.

“I think everything went really well and having so many people participate shows a lot of respect for the men and women affected by breast cancer,” Delobel said.

Jared Harmon can be reached at 990-8922 or [email protected].