AATF to also promote responsibility with giveaways

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Oct. 21, 2008) - The ETSU Department of Intercollegiate Athletics will be promoting "Kicks for Bucs" at all of the Buccaneer events from Oct. 23-26. In addition, the Alcohol Awareness Task Force (AATF) will promote their message of alcohol awareness and responsibility as they will have giveaways at Friday's volleyball match and Saturday's men's soccer game.  

"Kicks for Bucs" is in cooperation with Nike's Reuse-A-Shoe program. Throughout the Buccaneer men's and women's soccer games as well as volleyball matches this weekend, ETSU Athletics will be collecting used tennis shoes to contribute to Nike's Reuse-A-Shoe program.  Reuse-A-Shoe is part of Nike's Let Me Play campaign, and is one of their longest-running environmental and community programs.

Reuse-A-Shoe was created in 1990 when Nike realized that millions of athletic shoes were being thrown away each year, and were clogging landfills and wasting useful material. Nike decided to collect worn-out athletic shoes to process and recycle into material used in sports surfaces such as basketball courts, tennis courts, running tracks and playgrounds. Since the establishment of Reuse-A-Shoe, Nike has recycled more than 21 million pairs of shoes, resulting in the creation of over 265 sport surfaces.

Every fan who brings an old pair of tennis shoes to any ETSU athletic event this weekend (Oct. 23-26), will be admitted into each match for only $1.  There will be plenty of opportunities for fans to take advantage of this great deal. Beginning Thursday, Oct. 23, the men's soccer team hosts Mercer at 4 p.m. at Summers-Taylor Stadium.  The schedule of the remainder of the sporting events for these dates is as follows:

FRIDAY, Oct. 24th

Women's Soccer vs. Stetson at 4 p.m.

Volleyball vs. Florida Gulf Coast at 7 p.m.

SATURDAY, Oct. 25th

Volleyball vs. Stetson at 3 p.m.

Men's Soccer vs. Campbell at 4 p.m.

SUNDAY, Oct. 26th

Women's Soccer vs. Florida Gulf Coast at 2 p.m.

**All shoes donated will be collected and taken to the Nike Outlet Store in Sevierville, TN

Also an hour before Friday's volleyball match and Saturday's men's soccer game, the Alcohol Awareness Task Force (AATF) will hand out bags of goodies including candy, toothbrushes, AATF pencils, stickers, McDonald's French fries coupons and other fun prizes to the first 100 kids and students.  BADD (Bucs Against Drunk Driving) will also team up with AATF on Saturday to promote alcohol awareness.

Please visit www.ETSUBucs.com for more information any of the Buccaneer athletic teams.