Butler, Pine-Richland youth soccer groups raise awareness, funds for cancer research
For the young athletes playing on one of three The Cure for Cancer Soccer Foundation teams, winning is about much more than scoring goals.
The Cure for Cancer Soccer Foundation is a nonprofit organization of three girls soccer teams that play 3v3 tournaments during the off-season to raise awareness and money for cancer research.
“It's just morphed into this very dedicated group of parents and children who want to play for something bigger and better than themselves,” said Kelly Coffield of Mars, who helped organize the nonprofit group.
Coffield said the organization formed from a group of girls who play soccer for the PA Crew Soccer Academy in Butler and Pine-Richland Girls Soccer Academy programs and wanted to do something different during the off-season.
The 3v3 tournaments feature fast-paced games that put two teams of three soccer players on a shorter field with no goaltender.
Instead of getting sponsors for their teams — The Cure, in the U12 division; The Cure Gold, in the U10 division; and The Jr. Cure, in the U9 division — the athletes raise money to donate to cancer research.
Recently, the teams took their cause to Florida where two of The Cure for Cancer Soccer Foundation's teams qualified for and traveled to the Disney 3v3 Soccer Championships in Kissimmee, Fla., at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.
The Jr. Cure team placed second and The Cure team placed third in the January tournament.
“It's such a nice thing,” said Dave Interthal, of Hampton, who coaches The Jr. Cure. “It gets them out of their own little bubble and gets them to see there are some things out there that are much greater than soccer.”
The girls' chose their team colors based on the awareness ribbon colors: lavender for all cancers, and gold for childhood cancer. They wear a lavender ribbon on their jerseys and socks for each game. The athletes also have signatures of cancer survivors on their jerseys.
During each game, the young athletes leave their huddle by cheering “1, 2, 3, cure cancer.”
Ellie Coffield of Mars plays for her grandfather who has stage 4 lung cancer.
“We wanted to try to play for a cause and each of us are sort of playing for someone and each of us can play for someone we know,” said Ellie, 11. “It isn't like my life is over (if we lose), but I do want to win for them.”
While the girls have reached out to family, friends and local businesses to bring awareness to their cause, The Cure for Cancer Soccer Foundation also has a Facebook and FundRazr page to solicit donations. They hope to raise $7,000, and at the end of the nonprofit organization's fiscal year, in March, the team members will choose the cancer research organization to which they will donate their proceeds.
“At the end of the day, win or lose, the theme for these kids is the same: there are kids out there who would do anything to be in your shoes and play, and you get to play,” Coffield said. “You could lose every single game, and it will not matter because you get to do it.”
Bethany Hofstetter is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 724-772-6364 or bhofstetter@tribweb.com.
