Volleyball Community Plays For a Cause, Gives Back
The volleyball community across the country is giving back, playing for a cause, playing for something more.
This goes beyond the team, but a whole community getting behind a cause. Here are just a few examples from programs around the region that are playing for much more!
From Jeff Frye – Head Coach – Luxemburg-Casco (WI)
Pink Out Night at Luxemburg Casco is a pretty special night for our program, but also our entire community. 100% of the proceeds from Pink Out Night go directly to Ribbon of Hope, which is an organization that gives financial, informational, and emotional assistance to individuals battling Breast Cancer in Northeast Wisconsin. One of the best parts about our donation is that it stays local and it has even assisted people within our district and community. We truly make it an entire community event. The girls in the program as well as the parents go out into the community and speak with local businesses about being sponsors, this year we had over 80 businesses that donated. We sell Pink Out T-shirts, as our goals in to Pink Out the gym. We have Mad Minutes where our girls go through the bleachers taking donations; we had over 75 baskets for bucket raffles, 50/50 raffle and grab bags. We just completed out 11th Annual Pink Out Night, and over that time period we have donated over $115,000, including over $19,500 in 2018 (2019 Numbers are not in yet). It is truly remarkable and special how our little community rallies around such a great cause and gives back in suck a huge way. It’s something that everyone is so proud to be a part of.
From Sara Kealy – Head Coach – River Falls (WI)
River Falls hosted Menomonie for a lung cancer awareness fundraiser on Sept 19th. Both teams and their fans, including the student section, wore shirts with the white lung cancer ribbon. Proceeds from these shirts as well as silent auction baskets and a 50/50 raffle were donated to A Breath of Hope Lung Foundation. This is an organization that the Banitt family has worked closely with since their dad, Tracy’s diagnosis in November of 2016. Lung cancer has touched the lives of many athletes and coaches in our program, and this evening was a small way for us to give back.
From Waterloo West (IA)
The Waterloo West Volleyball program honored longtime Waterloo Teacher and Coach Karen DeSerano at their Breast Cancer Awareness Volleyball game on Tuesday, October 1st vs. Liberty High School.
Fans were encouraged to pack the gym in support of Coach DeSerano and wear pink to the game. Special “Team DeSerano” shirts are being sold to help raise money for the game and Breast Cancer Research.
Karen DeSerano was diagnosed with breast cancer this past May and has gone through several chemo treatments and is scheduled for surgery on October 17th . DeSerano has been a teacher in the Waterloo School District since 2004 starting out at Kittrell Elementary and has been a coach and teacher at Hoover Middle School since 2014. She started coaching Volleyball at Peet Junior High and has been coaching Volleyball, Basketball, and Track at Hoover for the past several years. She has also coached several club Volleyball teams throughout her career and has been the official Scorekeeper for home UNI Volleyball games for the past 31 years. DeSerano has had such a positive impact on so many kids that she has taught or coached over the years with several of them playing for West High that night.
From Sheboygan North (WI):
Mark and Bonnie Schultz are born-and-raised Sheboyganites. Married for nearly 30 years, they have one daughter, Kellie, who is a graduate of UW-Milwaukee. She lives in Wauwatosa and teaches art at Brown Deer elementary.
Mark has been heavily involved in the local volleyball community. In 1994 he began refereeing the sport through the Sheboygan County YMCA where he is now the lead referee of a competitive women’s league. He is also USAV certified to referee club volleyball. In 2006, he began his volleyball coaching career as a varsity assistant at Sheboygan North High School. He has been involved in promoting, coordinating and facilitating dozens of local volleyball clinics. Mark’s coaching philosophy revolves around a simple concept of THE FIVE R’s – Respect, Responsibility, Retain, Rebound, and Relish using a positive-reinforcement approach to getting his players to achieve their individual and team goals. Mark is also proud to have had founded and directed a local club, Lake Effect Select (LESVBC – 2009-2014). He most recently joined the staff of South Shore Slam VBC, a relatively new club directed by one of his former LESVBC coaches, Nichole Cruz.
Although the Schultz’s have poured a lot into the local volleyball community, it was back in 1996 that the Schultz family would change forever. It was then that through a routine self-examination that Bonnie was first diagnosed with breast cancer at the young age of 34. A lump was discovered and after a mastectomy, reconstruction, and a biopsy of her lymph nodes, the cancer was determined to be eradicated. Chemotherapy and radiation were not required. Bonnie was technically in remission. Unfortunately, 13 years later the cancer returned this time as a tumor on her upper spine. After a lengthy 13-hour surgery to remove two destroyed disks, insert titanium rods & screws, and then radiate the remainder of the tumor that could not be removed during surgery – due to its delicate location near her spinal cord – a long, three-month rehabilitation ensued. But Bonnie recovered heroically. However, it was determined that the cancer was metastatic – in other words, incurable. Over the next nine years and countless PET scans, Bonnie had five different occurrences where the cancer appeared in her bones. In each of these cases, radiation eradicated the cancer. Then things changed in November 2018. A routine PET scan showed the cancer had metastasized to her liver – a different “animal” this time around. So, an alternative course of action was necessary. For the first time, Bonnie would require chemotherapy. At this time she is on a third chemo drug that will hopefully eradicate the growth of the cancer in her liver. On a positive note, the recent PET scan showed no cancer in her bones. She will continue with chemotherapy and will undergo a follow up PET scan in November to re-evaluate her progress.
Through all of this, the family has remained positive and hopeful that Bonnie’s current treatment will be successful. They appreciate all of the thoughts and prayers from friends, family, strangers, and past families that Mark has coached.
The fundraiser for the Schultz Family will take place when Sheboygan North hosts Sheboygan South on October 3 and will continue through the weekend at the Sheboygan North JV Tournament on Saturday, October 5.
Thank you Warrior Nation for your support in our 3-0 win and help raise awareness for an amazing cause #cancersucks pic.twitter.com/R5i0QDSeqx
— Waukee Volleyball (@WaukeeVB) October 2, 2019
Come out to KML tonight and support your HAMILTON Chargers & Jane!! She needs our help! Time to step up Charger Nation!! 🔴🔴 pic.twitter.com/GADwzs6GqI
— Hamilton Charger Volleyball (@HHSChargerVB) September 11, 2019