Hair! Hair! Sharpe issues challenge to hoop fans

Shoot for the Cure | V-Reds' hoop star ready to have locks sheared to support the cause

Amanda Sharpe has given her heart, soul and body to the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds for five years now.

Sunday, she'll give her hair.

Should fans at the V-Reds basketball games tonight and tomorrow put $250 in a jar, Sharpe, the basketball V-Reds' fifth-year post player, will submit to her first haircut "in many years," she said.

Her folks don't know it yet - hi, Charlie - but Sharpe has agreed to allow teammate Emma Russell to cut 8-10 inches of her long, dark-brown locks between the women's and men's volleyball matches Sunday and will donate the hair to Locks of Love, the organization which makes wigs for cancer patients.

Call it the "crowning" moment of the Varsity Reds "Pink In The Rink/Shoot for the Cure/Dig for the Cure" event, which began with a $7,000 donation from the Pink In The Rink/Mark Jeffrey game Wednesday night.

Jeff Speedy, the V-Reds women's basketball coach and the national project co-ordinator said the target for UNB's donation to the national Shoot For The Cure initiative was "more than last year's total," of $4,000.

"I think this year if we don't hit $4,500 we'd be disappointed."

The cause continues tonight through Sunday. At the basketball games against the University of Prince Edward Island Panthers - the women hit the court at 6 p.m., the men at 8 p.m. and are back again Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. and three o'clock respectively, tickets will be sold on two giant baskets, filled to overflowing with a variety of pink items.

There will also be tickets for a pink tool kit to a couple of giant pink cookies, to a two-sided quilt made by Speedy's mom, pink on one side, black and red on the other.

Sales will continue through the Saturday night and Sunday afternoon volleyball games, with the V-Reds women on the floor Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. against Cape Breton and Sunday at 2 p.m. against St. FX and the men facing Dal on the back half of the doubleheader at 8:30 p.m. Saturday night and Sunday at 4 p.m. Proceeds from the 50/50 draw and half the gate receipts will be donated as well.

Sharpe will submit to a shearing between the volleyball matches Sunday.

Sharpe, who has contributed so much to the V-Reds on the court - she was the AUS female athlete of the week this week - is happy to do what she can off the court too.

"I've been kind of thinking about it all season coming up to this game that it's maybe something I should do," said Sharpe. "It's for a good cause, and...it's hair. It will grow back."

Sharpe says she is "ready for a change. It's fun to do and a good cause."

For Speedy, it's a powerful sign that his basketball players understand they have a responsibility in the community as well.

"I want our girls to recognize this is a pretty special place to live and there are a lot of people who support us in a number of ways," he said. "So the least we can do is give back. I'm also trying to shape them as people and members of this and other communities and people who are very active in their community."

Mission accomplished as far as Sharpe is concerned.

The difference in her appearance may be startling at first. She's had the long, flowing tresses for "quite a while," she said. "But I wear it in a pony tail so much that I don't think it will really make a difference."

Speedy must hope a Sampson-like shearing won't sap her strength on court. She's been outstanding again this season, second in the nation in scoring with 20.5 points per game, up from third last year. Rookie teammate Claire Colborne has fallen to fourth in the country and second on the team, down to 19.5 points per game.

They have a chance to bump up their stats with a pair of games against the winless Panthers this weekend.

But for this weekend at least, the stats associated with the dollars and cents of the Shoot for the Cure are every bit as important.

"The relationship I have with my players, and seeing them offer to cut off 10 inches of their hair for the Canadian breast cancer foundation...the individual who was in the gym on Dec. 26 when nobody else was even in the gym...the individual (workouts) at seven in the morning...those are the things I'm going to remember more than her 35 points and 12 rebounds on the weekend."

"Since Day 1, Speedy has always told us he's not just here to make us better athletes, he's here to make us better people," she said. "The things our team gets an opportunity to do are amazing, and that's all due to Jeff Speedy. He's definitely had a major influence on the person I am today. I'm definitely way more involved in the community than I ever was and I understand that there's a bigger picture. Speedy has definitely had an influence on that."

"I'm not going to say because of the person I am and because of the program I run, Amanda is going to do this," he said. "You have to have good parents and you have to be surrounded by good people. I can't make that much of a change."

And yet, to use a UNB catch phrase, he is making a significant difference.

Speedy is the national chairperson for the Shoot for the Cure initiative, which involves all but one of the women's basketball programs from across the land.

"We want to try to raise $100,000 for the Canadian breast cancer foundation with Shoot for the Cure," he said, referring strictly to the women's basketball association. "My secret goal is to be able to say that every single women's basketball program in the country is participating. I want to get 100 per cent participation and I want to raise more than $100,000 every year."

Cape Breton University, which was a top fund raising program in each of the past two years, opted out this year.

"I'm not sure why they're not doing it," he said. "It's probably a volunteer base that did it and they're just starting to get people involved."

Other sports - including the women's volleyball and men's hockey programs at UNB - have taken up the cause as well. Speedy was happy to accept a cheque for $7,025 from the V-Reds hockey team during Pink In The Rink proceedings.

"I thought it was great," he said. "I think sometimes the whole breast cancer-slash-pink thing makes guys maybe not get involved. To see an elite hockey program that is strictly men be involved speaks to the quality of the program. I was thrilled. We set a goal of $10,000 for the rink and for down here. And since we're at $7,000 already, I think $11-12,000 is more of the goal we have now since they got us off to such a great start."