Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Opportunities to win special Lady Buccaneer items, Spa/Salon Packages, and raise money for Breast Cancer Research

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Feb. 9, 2010) - The Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) officially begins the 2010 WBCA Pink Zone™ on Friday, Feb. 12, and this Saturday afternoon when the Lady Bucs tip off against Kennesaw State at 1:30 p.m., ETSU will join in as one of 1,350 schools and organizations to participate in the initiative.

The WBCA Pink Zone™ initiative is a global, unified effort for the WBCA's nation of coaches to assist in raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond. The week set aside for this year's initiative is February 12-21, however many schools are participating outside of that window due to scheduling conflicts. 

Schools have chosen to participate in a variety of different ways. Some ideas for involvement include donning pink uniforms, inviting breast cancer survivors to the game, wearing pink shooting shirts, asking all fans to wear pink, and raffling off pink basketballs to raise money for a charity.

On Saturday, fans attending the Lady Buccaneer contest will receive $1 admission if they are wearing pink. Furthermore, former Lady Buccaneer post player Jenny Norman (Peachtree City, Ga.) will be on hand as an honorary coach for the special game. Norman, who played all four years for the Lady Bucs and helped guide ETSU to its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 2008, lost her mother to breast cancer this past December. Norman also volunteered to donate her hair to Locks of Love last season during the Lady Bucs' Pink Zone game. 

"Jenny was a top student-athlete during her four-year playing career at ETSU," commented head coach Karen Kemp. "After having her mom pass away this past December with breast cancer, we thought it would be a special tribute to dedicate this game to her mother and bring Jenny back as a honorary coach."

Other highlighted events to take place with ETSU's WBCA Pink Zone™ game include the Lady Bucs sporting pink socks, shoelaces and shooting shirts. The entire ETSU women's basketball team and staff have also autographed a pink basketball and Lady Buc jersey, which will be auctioned off during the game. Also, specially made pink long-sleeve ETSU shirts and pink Buccaneer swords will be on sale as well. Meanwhile, Mary Kay, Austin Springs Spa and Enkore Salon have donated gift baskets that will be available for auction on Saturday and a select number of free samples will be available near the ETSU merchandise booth.

At halftime, eight ETSU staff members whom have battled breast cancer will be recognized and honored with pink roses. Also, one ETSU staff member will donate their hair to Locks of Love - a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children in the United States and Canada under age 18 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis.

"We are excited to be able to participate with the WBCA Think Pink initiative and help create awareness for breast cancer," added ETSU Marketing and Promotions Coordinator Sara Hacker. "We are very pleased Mary Kay, Austin Springs Spa and Salon and Enkore Salon were able to donate items to our auction and we hope fans not only come out to see a great game but help raise money for such a deadly disease." 

During the game, the officials will be using pink whistles, and ETSU's Athletic Media Relations Office will print all game notes and stat sheets on pink paper. ETSU athletic staff members will also be collecting donations in pink buckets throughout the game, with all the proceeds going to the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund.      

Mission Statement
The WBCA Pink Zone® 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.

History
The WBCA began the WBCA Pink Zone®, formerly known as "Think Pink", in 2007 as an initiative to raise breast cancer awareness in women's basketball, on campuses and in communities. Kay Yow, former North Carolina State University head women's basketball coach, served as the catalyst for the initiative after her third reoccurrence of breast cancer in 2006. 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. The WBCA's charity of choice is the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund®, in partnership with The V Foundation. The WBCA strongly encourages all donations from Pink Zone games to be given to this Fund.