StFX athletes to hold third annual charity event
March 25, 2010 9:00 AM
The 2009-2010 season may be over for StFX athletics, but the X-Men and Women will be back in action on Wednesday, March 31 for the third annual X Athletes for Charity event.
The event will go from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the main gym at the Oland Centre and will support the Antigonish Town and County Recreation Project.
According to Kwame Osei, a member of the X-Men football team and co-chair of the X-Varsity Council, this year’s event will include a mixture of coaches, athletes and members of audience. He said that the athletes are excited about participating because it’s fun and “it’s our way of giving back to the community.”
Last year, the event raised money for Kidsport, and featured a touch football game and a slam dunk competition.
This year, female athletes and coaches will compete in soccer, while the boys will play basketball. In addition, there will be an obstacle course competition that will include two members of the audience.
Don’t expect the participants to take it easy just because it’s a charity event. These competitors are in it to win it.
According to all-star receiver Akeem Foster, who played for the white team last year, the blue team resorted to some less than sportsmanlike tactics in an effort to come out on top. “The blue team are cheaters” he said boldly.
All joking aside, it appears that community spirit is contagious. Osei said that out of the three years for the event, this year has the most volunteers.
Every athlete has different reasons for participating, but there is definitely a consensus that helping out the community in an interactive event like this is fun and rewarding.
For Camesha MacKenzie, a fourth year member of the X-Women basketball team, participating is a nice way for StFX to make a mark on the community.
“I think it’s good to be a face in the community. We can show them that we aren’t just athletes but that we’re students and we want to give back.”
Both Akeem Foster and Carolyn Campbell, a third year forward and AUS second team all-star on the X-Women hockey team, cited interacting with kids as one of the best parts of the event.
Foster said that he was amused last year by young kids coming up to him asking for autographs, while Campbell mentioned that events like this can encourage kids to get active and see that “sports are fun.”
With t-shirt giveaways and a raffle, members of the audience will have opportunities to leave with prizes in addition to helping out a worthy cause.
The event will be held in support of the Antigonish Town and County Recreation Project. The project is a three phase, 3.3 million dollar initiative that will expand and upgrade recreational facilities in the Antigonish community.
In addition to the turf field constructed here on campus, the initiative also includes a new baseball diamond at John Hugh Gillis High School, an eight lane, 400 metre track and field facility at St. Andrew’s Junior High and a 1.6 kilometre nature trail following Brierly Brook.
