Mullen Field Hockey Team Plays for Cure

Kayla Michel and her mother, Renee, did it in memory of a family friend.

Kayla's 26 teammates did it because they care.

On Wednesday, the Ann A. Mullen Middle School field hockey team (3-2) faced off against Winslow Township Middle School in a home scrimmage in front of the Sicklerville Road school.

It wasn't the game that really mattered to the 27 girls, though. It was what they did beforehand that counted most to them.

The Mullen girls, usually clad in green uniforms, took the field wearing special pink T-shirts they had made in support of Play 4 the Cure—a breast cancer awareness campaign spearheaded by a field hockey equipment manufacturer.

By the time the game rolled around at 3:45 p.m., the team had surpassed its $500 goal in support of breast cancer research, Renee Michel said. The girls had called on friends and family to contribute to their fundraising effort, and sold homemade baked goods during the school day—selling out and sending Renee to the store for reinforcements for the game.

"It's been a great experience for me, and I know it's been great for my team," Kayla Michel said.

The Mullen eighth-grader told Patch she organized the fundraiser in memory of her "aunt."

Millville resident Stephanie Brown, a Michel family friend, died of breast cancer about a year and a half ago, Renee Michel said. Brown was just 44 years old when she succumbed to the disease, shortly after her diagnosis.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

The money raised by the Mullen field hockey team on Wednesday will go to Susan G. Komen for the Cure by way of Longstreth Sports' Play 4 the Cure program.

"Bringing awareness—that's the most important thing," Renee Michel said.

The death of a family friend at the hands of breast cancer clearly brought awareness of the disease to Kayla Michel, but it also inspired her to take action. While out picking up a new field hockey stick this summer, she learned Longstreth Sports supports Susan G. Komen for the Cure and took the idea of a fundraiser to her coaches.

"It really was totally her idea," Renee Michel said.

Jaguars head coach Shannon Wood is thrilled her player came to her to propose the team get involved in the fundraiser.

"I think it's important for us to show that kids their age really do care," she said. "For them to go ahead with it on their own, to put in this work organizing it all, it shows a lot of willpower and dedication."