Saturday, April 16, 2011

Playing around for cancer

By: Ashley Burdin
On a windy night in Frostburg, MD students, faculty, and the community gathered together at Frostburg State University for Relay for Life. Relay for life is an event for cancer research. Organizations from the university and community form teams and “relay” for life. The end goal is to raise money and awareness.

One of the ways to raise money is fundraising through games. One game was a soccer tournament which takes place on the field in the middle of the stadium. This soccer game had students from both the boy's soccer team, girl’s soccer team, and students who were not soccer players at all. The game was a “pickup game”, meaning that anyone could play. When asked how a pickup game works, Dorie Gedridge replied with, “A pickup game is just when you pickup players, anyone can play.” While the students had the competitive spirit, they knew the event was just for fun. Tom Bennett, who is not a soccer player but a track runner, said in good humor “it was fun but those kids were playing way too serious.” Along with the event being just for fun, there was no actual “winner.” This helped the students just enjoy the game. While the students were playing soccer in the middle of the stadium, the rest of the participants were enjoying the rain free event while hoping the rain did not start. If the rain had started the event would have been moved inside to the universities gymnasium.

Relay for life events are held all across the nation. For information on how to get involved in Relay for life click on the link above. Chances are you or someone you know has been affected by cancer and the Relay for Life is a great way to get involved and help.

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