CALDWELL, Idaho – The College of Idaho basketball teams are participating in Coaches vs. Cancer when they play Lewis and Clark State College on Friday. The event, which is recognized nationwide, is a partnership between the American Cancer Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches. It is used throughout the sporting world to raise awareness of the fight against cancer.
“Many teams will be wearing pink or different colors in support of different types of cancer,” said Colby Blaine, Yachts men’s basketball head coach. “But the coaches will be wearing tennis shoes and suits this weekend. Our staff is actually going to be wearing some new tennis shoes with orange laces.”
Orange is an important color for the fight against cancer as it symbolizes leukemia awareness. The cause is especially at home for the Yotes women’s basketball team. Just months before Yates was recruited by Jenika Nurita to join the team, she was diagnosed with an illness that forced her to delay her college experience.
Women’s basketball coach Janice Beal said, “My heart breaks for her in all of the milestones she’s had to go through while she’s been through that.” Keep encouraging her, and keep her a part of it as much as possible.
This weekend, fans are encouraged to wear orange to the game. Attendance is usually high at Yots games, but men’s basketball players Paul Wilson and Caden Hendren have taken a vow to shave their heads if 2,000 or more people show up to the game.
Yots hopes to provide a night of awareness for a disease that affects so many people in the country.
“Almost everyone has someone they know or close friends or family who’s dealt with it,” Beal said. “So any kind of awareness, just to know there’s support in the community, is great.”
The women’s game begins at 5 p.m. Friday at the JA Albertson Center in Caldwell. The men’s game will end immediately after the women’s finish. Tickets can be found on the school website HereOr can be bought at the door.
