The story behind Axewomen basketball's shoot for the cure effort

WOLFVILLE, N.S. - After pulling together their Shoot for the Cure fundraising efforts for a 24-hour blitz on Saturday, January 22, the Axewomen basketball team celebrated in a cold and refreshing manner…with a polar bear dip in the Bay of Fundy.

This year's Shoot for the Cure, raising awareness and funds for Breast Cancer research, netted over $10,000 - $10,323.66 to be exact. It was the biggest year of fundraising for the U SPORTS Shoot for the Cure to date by the Axewomen, more than doubling their best effort.

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"COVID moved us away from more conventional fundraising, but also allowed us to extend our reach beyond just the community, or people coming to our games on the particular the Shoot for the Cure weekend," noted Axewomen basketball head coach Len Harvey.

The team had limited success to raise money for a great cause and it was UNB head coach Jeff Speedy, an Acadia alumnus and Chairperson of the U SPORTS Shoot for the Cure effort, who reached out to Harvey with an idea of having Acadia's players pair up against one of the UNB Reds in a one-versus-one fundraising effort.

"The idea really generated a ton of interest and excitement. Obviously for a bunch of athletes, adding that layer of competition was certainly motivating, but I think even our crew were surprised when the numbers just kept growing and growing. For both of the teams to raise over $20,000 in about 24 hours is incredibly impressive," added Harvey.

It shouldn't be lost that the student-athletes were the drivers and leaders behind this fundraising effort.

Harvey has stressed over the last seven seasons that the effort would be an initiative completely driven and led by the athletes on the team. They would come up with the ideas, engage with people, and move the fundraiser along by themselves.

"I've always been really impressed and happy with our efforts, but this year exceeded expectations by a country mile. They've raised about $30k ourselves over the last 7 years", added Harvey.

This year has been the best total amount raised for the Axewomen since the Shoot for the Cure initiative started. Senior guard Jayda Veinot was asked what was different this year.

"This year, like last year, our Shoot for the Cure fundraising was done completely online so we had to get creative. This year we had the fundraising competition against the UNB Women's Basketball team, personal initiatives, team initiatives, and a bottle drive. As a team, we worked hard to promote the fundraising efforts, and to reach out to as many people as we could to see if they wanted to support us. As for the difference, we have to acknowledge how much our friends, family, and the Acadia Basketball community cares because their donations poured in. But I also think such a difference came from how committed our team was to raising money for a great cause. Everyone on the team worked hard and brought in so much support," said Veinot.

As for next year, Veinot anticipates that most of their effort this year in new ways to raise funds will continue.

"Some of the initiatives and promotions we used this year will help carry over into future fundraisers, but more so I think the team has seen what they're capable of doing, and how much of a difference they can make, and that will continue every year," noted Veinot.

"In some way or another everyone on the team has connections to cancer and their own personal reasons for wanting to support the Canadian Cancer Society. Breast cancer may resonate more with some of us than others, but all-in-all it's great to be a part of the incredible efforts of the USPORTS Women's Basketball programs across the country," concluded Veinot.

Why the polar dip the following day? Well, each player had a goal amount to raise and if they met that effort, they had to do the dip. As the day passed, each player reached their goal and was added to the polar bear dip list. Those that donated obviously did so to help the Axewomen's fundraising effort but also wanted to see them make their final commitment – to jump into the icy cold Bay of Fundy.

The last person on the list was Coach Harvey. Once that $8,000 team goal was met, Harvey was added to the list, and he was more than happy to participate.

"The collaboration between the two teams was really great to see, Jeff has done an incredible job leading this initiative for years and we're always happy to participate. It was a cold dip, but good fun with lots of laughs and stories to tell after a really well-run, student-driven fundraiser. We're really proud of all of their efforts for this amazing cause."

Twitter link to polar bear dip - https://twitter.com/AxewomenBB/status/1485353678492082187?s=20&t=fPjLn-rGgV4mi63rBCsIQA

Instagram link to the polar bear dip - https://www.instagram.com/p/CZFpflBpjJe/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link