Lake Forest Academy’s Coaches vs. Cancer is a returning tradition. For the second year in a row, LFA will host five basketball games raising money for the Coaches vs. Cancer program. This program is a nationwide collaboration between the American Cancer Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches. This tradition was started last year by the Caxy Athletics Team, after Dean of Students Jennifer Rundles was diagnosed with cancer. Money was raised in her honor as she continued to fight. It was a huge success last year and the Caxy Athletics Team (CAT) decided to continue the event. These five basketball games took place on February 8, 2025. With Boys JVB playing at 10 a.m., Girls JV playing at 11:30 a.m., boys JV playing at 1 p.m., Girls Varsity at 2:30 p.m. and last but not least Boys Varsity at 4 p.m. All of these games were played against Lakes Community High School. On Friday, February 7, students also wore purple in support, while teachers wore suits and sneakers. This themed dress day was a great way to show support for the cause and games being played the next day.
CAT leader, Kate Delia ‘25 shared her experience in planning the event.
She emphasized how much of a success last year’s event was. They were able to raise $3,900 and this year they hoped to raise $5,000. In order to raise this much money, Delia said, “We’ve set up a table in the student center where students and faculty can purchase raffle tickets towards a variety of different prizes we have organized. We’ve also set up an online donation site and posted it on our CAT Instagram page.” Posting the event and charity online will allow for parents and people outside the LFA community to donate. During the games on Saturday, donations continued and the winners of the raffles were announced. Winners included Eric Shen (winning a jeans day), Jennifer Rundles (winning a gift card and Stanley cup) and Greg Parbey (winning a Stanley cup). “We’ve also organized games for students watching to participate in between the basketball games as opportunities to win prizes. We’ve put a lot of planning into the raffles and announced to the LFA community to come out and support,” Delia added. The event was a big success with added activities during the halftime of the Girls and Boys Varsity games. During the Girls Varsity halftime, LFA community members competed in a hula hooping contest, with Lily Botero ‘25 taking the win and a target gift card. During the Boys Varsity halftime, Lilla Szilvassy ‘25 and Beatrice Franklin ‘27 dominated the competition in a knockout challenge.
Assistant Director of Athletics and CAT advisor Tanika Golota shared the outcome and meaning behind the renowned games. She shared how this year the Coaches vs. Cancer games were built into many different aspects of LFA. Collaborating with the DOS, these collaborations helped build up ambition for the games. Additionally, the weekend schedules revolved around the theme of love and basketball. Both of these aspects made sure the games had a big turn out, emphasized Golota. Along with the raffles and team page donation site, during the games, CAT opened the concessions stand in which proceeds were also going to the cause. At the same time they organized a cookout tailgate that served hamburgers and hotdogs. “One of the ones [ways to raise money] that people didn’t know about is that we had donors for different things that were happening during the game. Someone was paying $10 for every three point shot made, per free throw, and someone was even paying per charge,” Golota shared. Depending on the different shots made by members of the LFA basketball teams, money was being raised for the American Cancer Society. The money raised directly helps raise awareness and funds developing research toward this widespread disease. Golota said the amount of people that came up to her sharing how much these games meant to them was astonishing and very impactful. She shared, “You never know what someone is going through, this disease affects so many people both inside and outside of our community.”
At the games, the atmosphere was something that could not be explained. With LFA’s cheer and dance team, otherwise known as Chance, performing during the varsity games, the school spirit was at an all time high. The game had a lot of turn out and the stands were packed. Another perk of being at the game was that if you purchased a raffle ticket, you were able to buy a coffee or refresher from Travelin Tom’s coffee truck with no extra charge.
This year, the Coaches vs. Cancer initiative raised around $2,500. With this amount being slightly lower than last year, the CAT felt accomplished by having more community involvement and activities for members than last year.
The Coaches vs. Cancer games left a long lasting impact on many in our LFA community and we hope to see these games return every year as we raise more money for the American Cancer Society.
