Busy and Fulfilling Saturday for the Gators
Sunday, October 25, 2015 | Women's Basketball
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A 6 a.m. practice Saturday morning was just the beginning of a very busy day for the Gators, who spent the next several hours volunteering their time at two extremely fun and important events.
Fun was the focus for the more than 50 children at the University of Florida athletic facilities Saturday morning. Forget at least for the morning the treatments, radiation or surgeries and just enjoy being a kid.
By all appearances, that goal was met as the children, who are current or past cancer patients, participated in a variety of sports and activities with more than 100 Gator student-athletes.
The 10th Annual Climb for Cancer was the vision of Ron Farb. The event is organized each year through his Climb for Cancer Foundation, which raises money to help the families of children with cancer.
“I saw kids having fun and that is the most important thing,” Farb said. The goal is to make sure the kids have a great time. I saw nothing but smiles on this beautiful day.”
Among the many enjoying the day of fun was Brandon Detter of DeLand, Florida. The 13-year old showed no signs today of his battle with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), which started in June of 2010. His father, Dale, said treatments completed in early April of 2015. Brandon did have a relapse in 2012, which sidelined him from his favorite sport, soccer, for a year and half. He is back on the pitch again and is part of travel club soccer team.
This is the third Climb for Cancer event for the Detter family.
“It's wonderful. Any time you see students giving back to people in this situation, it's just great,” Dale Detter said. “The kids just love it. They get to be a kid again.”
Brandon hit all the stations Saturday.
“We did a bunch of stuff – football, basketball, volleyball and soccer,” Brandon said. “It is always fun to come out here to hang out and play with all the Gators.”
Redshirt freshman Jessie Holmes was among the Gator soccer players sharing their sport with the Climb for Cancer participants.
“We look forward to this day. We are all here. We want these kids to have fun and enjoy this day. I think that was accomplished,” Holmes said. “It is fun to share our sport with the kids. They are totally into it – they just love kicking the ball.
“Finding the fun and forgetting about treatments or bad days is what we want for these kids. You see them smiling and it just makes us glad that we could be a part of it.”
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Once the Climb for Cancer event wrapped up, the Gators ventured over to Girls Place for a free Meet-n-Greet with fans in the community.
The 90-minute affair had the Gators coaches and players autograph team posters, talk with fans of all ages about the season and enjoy lunch and an ice cream station while getting to know each other.
· PHOTO GALLERY from the Meet-n-Greet
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Florida tips-off its 42nd season of varsity competition on Friday, November 13 at Temple, before welcoming Florida State to the O'Connell Center on Monday, November 16 in a doubleheader with the UF men's team that begins at 5:30 p.m.
· TICKETS on sale now!
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