By Maria Riegel, Special Writer
The South Brunswick High School’s boys’ varsity soccer team contributed to Breast Cancer awareness by wearing pink shoelaces on their cleats for the month of October according to junior and goalie Jimmy Quilter.¶
October is national Breast Cancer awareness month.¶
"It’s a good cause and a good thing to have awareness brought about to," Jimmy said.¶
Jimmy brought the idea to the team by wearing the laces to practice and said that the team was very supportive of the concept and that he attempted to emulate the school’s effort in bringing awareness to Breast Cancer through "Go Pink Day" that was held on Oct. 20.¶
Although Breast Cancer awareness month ended, some of the players are still wearing the pink laces on their shoes according to Jimmy.¶
"I am still wearing the laces to support the cause and some other players are still wearing them now," Jimmy said.¶
According to Jimmy, the pink laces have only been worn by the varsity team, but other players on the junior varsity team have also begun to wear the laces.¶
While pink may be considered a feminine color, the players were not ridiculed for the color of the laces according to Jimmy. He said that many of the players’ parents were very supportive of the cause, and he also said that many other teams the varsity soccer teams played during the month, such as J.P. Stevens and North Brunswick thought the idea was great.¶
"The other teams we played really liked it," Jimmy said. "The players commented on them (the laces) and said that they wanted to do it in their schools."¶
Jimmy said that the head varsity coach Christopher Hayston was very supportive of the idea.¶
"I thought it was a great idea," Mr. Hayston said. "It was nice to see the boys seeing a bigger picture; something more than soccer. I was very pleased with the idea and it was a nice representation of unity."¶
Mr. Hayston said that he was surprised that the team came up with this concept because of their constant focus on the game of soccer.¶
"When you are so focused on your sport it’s hard to recognize other important things," Mr. Hasyton said. "This goes for not just the players, but the coaches as well, and I think it’s great that they were able to do something for the cause."¶
Jimmy said that in addition to the awareness of Breast Cancer, the team also raised $50 that was donated to the Breast Cancer charity.¶
According to Jimmy, the players purchased the laces online from footgalaxy.com and the money given to Jimmy for the laces was donated; the team paid for the laces out of their own funds.¶
The team would like to make this a tradition for each year, and maybe even wear the laces for the whole season instead for just the month of October Jimmy said. He also said that the team would like to begin other ways to fundraise for Breast Cancer, but the team has not planned for these events.
