NEWS
Foundation News
Sports Imports/AVCA Courage Award
At the 2018 AVCA All-America/Players of the Year Banquet in Minneapolis, Rick received the 2018 Sports Imports/AVCA Courage Award for his work with The Side-Out Foundation and uniting the sport of volleyball to fundraise for stage IV breast cancer research.
The Courage Award was founded to recognize a member of the volleyball community who in the face of hardship and adversity displays great courage and a determination to use their experience to better the world around them.
Sports Imports Owner Cyndie Dunlap presented Rick with the award at the banquet that featured the best coaches and student-athletes in collegiate volleyball being honored.
April Ross and Side-Out
Over the years, Side-Out has had the support of some of the biggest names in beach volleyball. April Ross, two-time Olympic medalist, continued her support of the foundation and spent time with Side-Out’s supporting schools around the Seattle area during the AVP’s Seattle Open.
Ross held a special meet-and-greet with the student-athletes and their families, coordinated by AVP. In addition to the meet-and-greet, the student-athletes had the opportunity to join Ross on a special Amazon Prime event interview.
The Side-Out Foundation and Ross have partnered for the past three years to spread the word about Side-Out’s breast cancer research and the impact the volleyball community has had through Dig Pink. Ross has used her social media platforms throughout the year to show support for teams planning and participating in Dig Pink events.
Friends of Side-Out
2018 Power of Pink Tournament
For the second year in a row, Side-Out attended the Power of Pink Tournament in Queensbury, NY. The Power of Pink Tournament featured over 30 teams and plenty of great volleyball. The team from Queensbury High School hosted the annual tournament and worked to maximize fundraising by running a bake sale, breakfast omelet station, silent auctions and much more!
The tournament followed the same format of the past with pool play taking over the morning and teams being placed in different brackets for the afternoon play. Side-Out was present for both the JV tournament that took place the week prior and the varsity tournament with merchandise from Shop Dig Pink and taking photos and videos of the matches.
Teams took advantage of Side-Out’s new fundraising pages and When the fundraising from both weekends was complete, the tournament raised over $56,000!
2018 Dig Pink Challenge, powered by All Volleyball
The partnership between All Volleyball and Side-Out continued in 2018 with the third installment of the Dig Pink® Challenge, powered by All Volleyball! The match featured 2017 state champions, the St. Joseph’s Academy Angels, taking on cross-town rivals, the Cor Jesu Chargers.
In 2018, All Volleyball expanded the Dig Pink Challenge in a new way! In addition to the local match in St. Louis, All Volleyball launched the Ally Program: the national extension of the Dig Pink Challenge. Because we believe that we are all stronger together, the goals of the Ally Program were twofold: to bring new teams into The Side-Out family and to help increase their first-year donations by offering support and a monetary match. It was a fun and successful first year!
With funds raised during the event and All Volleyball’s monetary match, they raised over $7,500 to crush their goal! Combined with Cor Jesu’s fundraising and the new Ally Program, the 2018 Dig Pink Challenge raised over $24,000.
To learn more about the Dig Pink Challenge, powered by All Volleyball, visit DigPinkChallenge.org.
Teams joining All Volleyball’s Ally Program in 2018
East Clinton High School (OH)
East Clinton Middle School (OH)
Gateway Science Academy of St. Louis (MO)
Osbourn Park High School (VA)
Redington Jr/Sr High School (AK)
Springboro Community Schools (OH)
Stone Ridge Christian High School (CA)
