Soccer more than just kicks to local team

Published 11:36 am Thursday, October 2, 2008

SNOQUALMIE – Soccer players pride themselves on how many times they can touch a ball in practice. For the soccer athlete, more touches mean better ball handling and improved performance. But for at least one Valley youth soccer team, more touches mean more money for cancer research.

Cascade Select United, a 16-member under-13 soccer team comprised of Valley students, is on track to raise $2,000 for the Soccer Kicks for Cancer fund-raising event for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Soccer Kicks for Cancer is a partnership between the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, U.S. Youth Soccer and the U.S. National Soccer Team Player’s Association. Participants ask friends, family and neighbors to pledge a specific amount for each time they touch the soccer ball. The goal is for players to reach 2,000 touches in 10 days.

“The timing just seemed right,” said coach Dan Bubar.

Not unlike other teams, communities and people across the country, Cascade Select United members have had leukemia and cancer touch their lives.

Jennifer Coulter, Dan’s wife, was diagnosed with leukemia in 1992. After six months of treatments, which included chemotherapy, radiation and a bone-marrow transplant, she recovered. Additionally Kris Roder, whose son Tyler plays on the team, recently was diagnosed with leukemia.

Many of the players said they can think of somebody in their family that has been affected by cancer. In fact, player Jared Heller said that his neighbor is really sick.

According to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, in the United States more than 187,000 people are living with or in remission from leukemia, a form of cancer that originates in the bone marrow or lymphatic tissues as the result of an acquired genetic injury to the DNA of a single cell. That cell becomes malignant and multiplies continuously. The abnormal accumulation interferes with the production of healthy blood cells.

Dan Bubar explained that once your life is touched by cancer, it becomes a part of your everyday existence and you develop an awareness of the disease. For his family, that meant that wife Jennifer began speaking at fund-raising events and most recently, son Keegan, who was three months old when his mother was diagnosed, has begun raising funds for the team event. To date, Keegan has raised more than $1,000.

“Ever since 1992 [cancer awareness and fund-raising], it’s something we’ve been involved in one way or another,” said Dan.

For the players, they’re happy to be helping a good cause and have fun doing it. To get their 2,000 touches, they begin practice with a 200-touch session.

Jacob Eadie, a student at Chief Kanim Middle School and player on the team, said the extra effort really isn’t that hard at all. In fact, the overall fund-raiser is much more exciting than the magazine drive they do at his school.

Since its founding in 1949, the society has provided more than $360 million for research specifically targeting leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma, all of which are forms of cancer.