‘This cause is bigger than the game’
KISH hosts Colonel Gray in ‘Game for the Cure’ to raise funds for breast cancer Monday
It will be much more than just an important late-season match in the P.E.I. School Athletic Association (PEISAA) Senior AAA Girls Volleyball League.
The Kensington Torchettes will host their fourth annual Game for the Cure at the Kensington Intermediate-Senior High School gymnasium on Monday, and will wear special pink uniforms to help raise money and awareness of breast cancer on P.E.I. The Colonel Gray Colonels, who are also active in raising funds for breast cancer, will provide the opposition for the 5:30 p.m. start. Donations will be accepted at the door for the P.E.I. chapter of the Canadian Cancer Society. “Cancer touches too many of us, and has taught me it is important to cherish every family moment you can,” said Torchettes senior Elizabeth Burt.
The Colonels recently won the top school award for raising over $1,500 for the CIBC Run for the Cure in Charlottetown, and coach Laura Ready said “it means a lot” for the Charlottetown-based team to have the opportunity to participate in another fundraising event for breast cancer.
“It is a cause that hits close to home for many of us on the team, whether it’s their mom, aunt, grandmother or friend, every player on the team has been affected in some way,” said Ready, who added that while the Colonels do not have pink uniforms, the team will wear as much as pink as possible.
“When we go to the Run for the Cure and the girls get to meet the survivors first-hand, I think that helps them visualize how important our fundraising efforts are to those strong women/men. “Now to be able to help KISH raise even more money on Monday, the girls realize that this cause is bigger than the game, and we are all working together find a cure.”
Special significance
Monday’s match also carries special significance for two KISH team members – Burt and Leonie Goupil, an exchange student from Quebec.
“A few years ago my grandmother (Pat Schulze) moved from Calgary to P.E.I., and I was very happy to have her living close to me,” explained Burt. “Unfortunately, two years ago, she was put in the hospital and diagnosed with cancer.
“For my family this meant spending long and sad hours by her side (until she passed away).” Goupil also knows how it feels to lose a family member to cancer.
“Two and a half years ago, Serge Goupil, my father, passed away due to brain cancer,” said Goupil. “Throughout his life, he went through two surgeries to remove tumors and participated in treatments like chemotherapy.”
Key matchup
Not to be overlooked is the importance of Monday’s match as the regular season winds down, and the implications it could have come playoff time. The Torchettes, who have a match won-lost record of 8-2, sit in second place, two points up on the Colonels (7-1), who won the recent Westisle Wolverine Volleyball Classic tournament. Kensington is also two points back of the first-place Charlottetown Rural Raiders (9-1). Gray, which is four points out of first, has played two fewer games than both Kensington and Rural.
“KISH and Gray are extremely evenly-matched teams,” said Ready.
An example of the parity between the teams, noted Ready, is the recent final of the Colonel Gray Wall of Fame Cup tournament as the Colonels edged the Torchettes 17-15 in the third and deciding set.
“I’m so looking forward to seeing a great match of volleyball, with lots of pink,” added Ready. “Hopefully, lots of people will come out and support this cause.”