The Dig Pink Challenge Powered by All Volleyball is a fundraising event centered around volleyball. The goal is to bring the community together in a fun-filled day to raise funds and awareness for The Side-Out Foundation, the only organization using volleyball to raise money for stage IV metastatic breast cancer research!

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!

Here are the 2018 Allies:

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)

The new Ally Program was the perfect compliment to the local event match. On September 6, 2018 two local St. Louis teams faced off for the Dig Pink Challenge.  The match featured 2017 state champions, the St. Joseph’s Academy Angels, taking on cross-town rivals, the Cor Jesu Chargers. One of the coolest parts was the fans.  Never have there been louder student sections or a more packed gym! The atmosphere was electric, fueled by the fierce competition on the court. After 3 sets sprinkled with long rallies, the home team Angels came out on top to win the match:  25-19, 18-25, 25-15.

Another favorite moment (other than the amazing volleyball!) was the presentation of the uniforms.  For the second year in a row, each team received special, custom sublimated Dig Pink jerseys as a thank you for participating and raising money. These jerseys also featured special decoration honoring The Side-Out Foundation to help spread the word about them even after the event.  When the players wear the jerseys, they will remember why they wear pink.

St. Joseph’s and Cor Jesu spent weeks fundraising before and during the Dig Pink Challenge.  Not only did the Angels win the match but they also beat their fundraising goal before the match even started, one of the only teams to ever do that during the Dig Pink Challenge.  With funds raised during the event and All Volleyball’s monetary match, they raised over $7500 to crush their goal! Combined with Cor Jesu’s fundraising and the new Ally Program, the 2018 Dig Pink Challenge raised over $24,000.  

All-in-all, this means that the Dig Pink Challenge Powered by All Volleyball has raised a grand total of more than $100,000 in just over five years for The Side-Out Foundation!  Reaching the $100k mark brings on such a mix of emotions. We are so excited, so humbled and so blessed to be able to partner with The Side-Out Foundation to help with their amazing cause.  Stay tuned for what is to come in 2019 with The Dig Pink Challenge!

To learn more about the Dig Pink Challenge, powered by All Volleyball, visit DigPinkChallenge.org.