OLYPHANT – Lackawanna League soccer coaches are being encouraged to follow the footsteps of their basketball counterparts in the effort to fight cancer.
The American Cancer Society and league members are teaming to try to grow the Red Card for Cancer program into a league-wide effort similar to what former Lackawanna Trail boys basketball coach Andrew Kettel has done with northeastern Pennsylvania’s Coaches vs. Cancer efforts.
Red Card for Cancer has roots in the Abingtons. It was started in 2009 by then Bloomsburg men’s soccer coach Paul Payne in memory of his friend Joe Bochicchio, The University of Scranton women’s coach. Bochicchio was the founder of the Soccer Plus store in Clarks Summit and a frequent contributor to the Abington Youth Soccer League.
Payne also coached the Wallenpaupack boys and The University of Scranton men during his career.
While encouraging other teams to follow during the Lackawanna Soccer League Media Day at the Regal Room Aug. 14, Valley View boys coach Danny Berg described how his team and Abington Heights and joined effort to turn their game at Abington Heights into a fundraiser for cancer in recent years.
“The American Cancer Society paired with Red Card for Cancer in 2018,” Berg said. “That was huge for Red Card for Cancer because it allowed it to have the American Cancer Society’s resources to be able to promote the game of soccer while benefiting Red Card for Cancer, research and creating awareness in the United States.”
Nino Cimino and Jamie Kane from the American Cancer Society joined Berg for his presentation on the subject.
They distributed a folder to coaches with information on how to create their own Red Card for Cancer game.
“We want to make sure that everybody can take that initiative and do their own home game,” Berg said. “ … They’re going to tell you what they are able to provide you so that we can raise as much money as we can in this area, similar to what basketball coaches do with Coaches vs. Cancer.
“We want to blow this up nice and big so that we can raise funds and we can get it out there and engage the soccer community.”
Kane encouraged teams to do a fundraising game in a two-week period beginning Sept. 30 to help promote the joint efforts as much as possible, but said games can be done on other dates.
“Ultimately what we want to do is give cancer the red card,” Kane said. “It has impacted a lot of us in a lot of ways and there’s a lot we can do to fight back.”
