“When life kicks you, let it kick you forward.”

As a Hoo, I LOVE Tony Bennett. I am pretty sure it is an obligatory part of being a University of Virginia student. He not only does a fantastic job of coaching his team – physically, mentally, and emotionally – but he is also a great person both on and off the court supporting his players, fans, family, and entire Charlottesville community.

However, this week Relay For Life at UVA would like to honor another individual who had a similar impact, Kay Yow. As Joanne Boyle, the head coach of the UVA’s Women’s basketball team, frames it, “ Kay Yow laid the foundation and groundwork for all of us in the spirit of Women’s Basketball.”

This Sunday at 1 pm our Women’s Basketball Team and Head Coach, Joanne Boyle, bring to you and the community, the Play 4 Kay Game giving us the incredible opportunity to connect our passion for the fight against cancer with the Play 4 Kay foundation.

So hoo was Kay Yow? A student at East Carolina University. A sister of the Delta Zeta sorority. A coach of the women’s basketball team at Elon University. A coach of the women’s basketball team at NC State. The coach of the 1987 Olympic Gold Medal US Women’s Basketball team. A coach who won 737 games in her 34 years of coaching the NC State Wolfpack.  A member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. And a fighter – someone who fought breast cancer not once, not twice, but three times.  She lost her battle on January 24^th, 2009. But that is far from the end of Kay’s story.

Within every community she was a part of, Kay was known for her positive influence and goal to constantly give back and be a part of the bigger picture - from her team to the student fans to the university community at large. She did this all while facing her own battle with cancer. After being diagnosed for the 3rd time, she founded the Kay Yow Cancer Fund in December of 2007.  The Kay Yow Cancer Fund is a collaboration of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association and V Foundation that is committed to fundraising for and raising awareness of the fight against women’s cancer. The main goal of the Fund is to help raise money for research that focuses on experimental drugs - a field that although funded almost completely privately, can have some of the biggest impacts and has made a fair number of breakthroughs in the search for a cure.

So whether you Relay for yourself, your mom, your sister, your aunt, your grandmother, your family friend, for anyone at all, come out Sunday, February 15th. Show your support, not only for your favorite women’s basketball in the ACC, but also to stand up against cancer, just as Kay has so courageously done.

"Now you know realistically, in the game you’re playing and in this fight, you know you may not win…but somehow your mindset won’t let you give up until that final buzzer goes off. Because you’re still calling timeouts and the people in the stands are wondering, ‘Why are they still calling timeouts?’ Because you still believe" - Coach Kay Yow

Relay Love, Maria Wnorowski and the Publicity Committee