April 17, 2013 — Irvine Valley College men’s volleyball joins the Dig Pink® ranks! Friday, April 12th, Irvine Valley men’s volleyball hosted its first ever Dig Pink match against Orange Coast College. Irvine Valley’s women’s volleyball has hosted Dig Pink events for the past four years and the men’s team managed each event. This spring they switched roles; the men took to the court and the women worked the event! Keith Shackleford, Dean of Kinesiology, Health & Athletics looks forward to making it a yearly tradition.
Friday was our first ever men’s game contribution to Dig Pink. We looked at the success the state men’s and women’s basketball programs were having with Coaches vs. Cancer, and felt this was another opportunity to bring a sport’s entire community together.
It was also one of those moments we talk a lot about – teaching life skills as part of what we do as professionals. By having the men run this event at a women’s game in the fall and the women manage the event at a men’s game in the spring, and appealing to their competitive natures by having a contest on who raises the most money, our student-athletes get to experience doing something bigger than themselves. A little professionalism and little humility goes a long way at their age, and it was a great experience for our programs.
While girls and women’s Dig Pink volleyball teams numbers in the thousands, only a handful of boys and men’s teams have participated, and Rick Dunetz, executive director of Side-Out, is excited to have the Irvine Valley men’s team take part: “Irvine Valley College has embraced Dig Pink as a volleyball-wide initiative and we are honored to work with both the men’s and women’s teams. We hope they will be an example to other schools and clubs committed to impacting lives through athletics.”
Shackleford is already looking ahead to next year: “My hope is that the rest of the men in So Cal take up the challenge, and that this continues to grow.”
Photos: 1st Irvine Valley College Dig Pink Men’s Volleyball Event
Photo Credit: Dave Kite, Irvine Valley College Public Information Office
About The Side-Out Foundation
The Side-Out Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that was established in 2004. Inspired by one mom and embraced by the entire sport of volleyball, the mission of The Side-Out Foundation is to educate young athletes and their communities about breast cancer, both with respect to prevention and treatment, and to fund cutting edge breast cancer research. Side-Out is focused on changing the way breast cancer is treated forever.
The term side-out refers to a situation in volleyball when one team wins a point while its opponent is serving, thereby regaining serve or control of play. It is hoped that Side-Out will do the same for breast cancer patients, providing them with the support, education and best available treatments to regain control of their lives.
