It's an uplifting event, to say the least.
The Penn State football team will take part in the third annual Lift For Life, an event to increase awareness and raise money for the Kidney Cancer Association, at 2 p.m. tomorrow in Holuba Hall.
Established in 2003, the event is the brainchild of former PSU players Scott Shirley and Damone Jones. Shirley was motivated to start the event after his father had a relapse of kidney cancer.
"My dad was diagnosed in the fall of 2002 and there wasn't much that could be done," Shirley said. "There are only 30,000 people diagnosed each year, and diseases with fewer than 30,000 diagnoses a year don't get much attention."
Unfortunately for the Nittany Lions, Shirley's situation is far too common. Former teammates Josh Hannum and Darien Hardy were both in the same boat when their fathers were both diagnosed with kidney cancer.
"There were four of us on the team whose father had it," Shirley said. "Four out of 100 guys is a high concentration. My roommate Damone Jones said, 'Let's do something about it.' And that's how it started."
The event is run completely by Penn State football players -- including all the accounting and finance work -- giving them an opportunity for work experience in the business world, since most players are unable to take internships due to their commitment to the sport.
Lift For Life was loosely molded after the easy-going summer strength competition, the July 4 challenge that concluded the end of the team's voluntary summer workouts.
Now, the more formal competition focuses on strength and conditioning -- the team will split up into groups of four and will compete in a series of 11 events designed to challenge them physically and mentally. The events range from traditional exercises, like bench press, to more extreme challenges such as the 200-pound plate carry and giant tire flip.
Ninety-six Penn State players have volunteered to compete, including team captains Michael Robinson, Alan Zemaitis and Paul Posluszny, along with new recruits Justin King and Derrick Williams.
"For the past couple weeks now we've been discussing who's on whose team, you know, who's got the advantage, who the best guys are, but it's all in good fun and we just give everything we have, especially since it's for such a great cause," Posluszny said. "It's one of the hardest workouts that we do all year, so the physical part is very tough, but it's worth it."
While the event is for a good cause and the main objective is to raise money, there is also plenty of friendly rivalry between teammates, where bragging rights and pride are the overall reward.
"The team to beat, I think, is going to be the trainers," Posluszny said. "They won it last year, John Thomas and Jeremy Scott -- tough guys -- and that's their lives so they're definitely No. 1 right now."
The event has raised more than $50,000 to date and looks to raise even more this year.
"We are always looking to go bigger," said Curt Reese, a Penn State defensive back and acting vice president of operations.
Life for Life hopes to reach the point where it can get spread to other schools, Shirley said, adding that under-funded, underrepresented causes should remain the event's benefactors because they benefit the most from charity.
Electronic donations will be accepted leading up to and during the event at psuliftforlife.org.
