Various student organizations partnered on Friday, November 15 to host “Kick Cancer,” a university-wide kickball tournament to raise money for the American Cancer Society (ACS). Kappa Kappa Gamma, Theta Chi, Sigma Chi and Colleges Against Cancer organized the single-elimination tournament played on Whitnall Field involving fifteen individual teams of seven to twelve players.

The event included a suggested donation of $8 to enter, and Oliveri’s Pizzeria and Rusch’s Bar and Grill also donated gift cards for the winning team in order to incentivize competition. Around 200 supporters turned out to show their support, and the energy and enthusiasm was high throughout the event with the combination of competitive spirit, matching uniforms, eye black and war paint.

“The idea to host a kickball tournament originated from our various other sorority chapters across the country, many of whom host kickball tournaments as fundraisers,” junior Amanda Brown said, who is a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma. “We wanted to expand on this idea and make the event campus-wide to encouraging maximum participation, and chose to donate to the American Cancer Society since this is a disease that in some way affects almost everyone.”

Several participants expressed their desire to organize similar fundraising efforts in the future.

“It was great to see so much campus-wide support and participation for the tournament, and overall we felt that the event was a huge success,” Brown said.

“These are the kind of events that are great for Colgate as a community because they promote interaction between different campus groups and raise money for a great cause in a fun way,” junior Luke Parauda said, who is a member of Theta Chi and its philanthropy chair. The event was able to raise close to $1,500 with all proceeds going directly to the ACS, an nation-wide organization that provides grants for cancer research.

Contact Colin Sheridan at [email protected].