It is football season again! On Friday nights you can find D’Evereux Stadium all decked out in green and white, but we are adding a splash of pink for the fourth year in a row with our Pink Wave Project! Cathedral’s Pink Wave Project (PWP) is a non-profit fundraiser to help fund the fight against cancer. I know the color pink normally represents breast cancer, but our event is simply for cancer awareness — every type of cancer!

The idea for our PWP came from a philanthropy seminar that I attended at the American Football Coaches Association Clinic in 2012. I have always tried to stress to my players the importance of giving back to the community because that is who supports us so well during our football season. The support of our PWP was completely overwhelming the first year, and the event has continued to grow.

In the past four years, we have made donations to Miss-Lou’s Relay for Life Event, St. Jude and Blair Batson’s Pediatric Cancer Clinic.

Of course, the highlight of our PWP is the Pink Game. At 7 p.m. Friday, The Greenwave will host Centreville Academy. During the game, Cathedral’s football players will be wearing pink jerseys. Each player has chosen the name of someone they care about who has fought a battle with any type of cancer, and that person’s name will be displayed on the back of their jersey. Before the game, the seniors and either the person they are playing in honor of or the person’s family they are playing in memory of will be introduced. The Greenwave Cheerleaders and The Emerald Tide Dance Team will also be sporting various types of pink attire. The fence will be lined with pink cards in honor or memory of loved ones who have fought a battle with some form of cancer.

When PWP was originally born, we focused our efforts on the fundraising part. As a school, however, we have come to realize this project is so much more than just raising money for a good cause. The Pink Game gives us all a chance to remember the lives of those who we have lost and celebrate the lives of those who we still have here with us! Emotions will be running high on and off the field that night! So we hope that you will make plans to help us make PWP IV the best ever! Come out and cheer the Greenwave on to a victory and help us paint D’Evereux Stadium PINK on Friday!

 

Ron Rushing is the head football coach of the Cathedral Greenwave.