Lady Raiders raise thousands for breast cancer

$7000.
That’s how much money volleyball coach TiAda Radtke was able to donate to the Susan G. Komen Foundation after weeks of selling Think Pink shirts and silly bandz and other fundraisers prior to the Think Pink Game Oct. 12.
Pink ribbons decorated the rails, and most spectators were wearing the volleyball Think Pink shirts sold for $10. Blinking pink lights and pompoms were for sale on game day.
That day Rider’s fieldhouse was full, unusual for a volleyball game. Even a volleyball game against rivals Wichita Falls High School. The energy of the rivalry added to the excitement of the game, but everyone there remembered the real reason for the celebration. Especially when before the varsity game, the JV volleyball team presented pink flowers to breast cancer survivors on both sides of the gym.
On this day, instead of the typical Rider Raider painted black and gold chests, Mario Morales, Travis Ford, Chase Henderson, Alex Williams, Josh Brady, Chase Roberts, Kaleb Nichols, Cal Johnson, Jacob Deerinwater, Luke Lemley and Parker David painted FORTHECURE!! In black and pink.
And all the while, the varsity team, in a race to make post-district play, remembered that today, their game was about something more than winning volleyball.
It was about winning the battle against breast cancer, something senior varsity player Alyssa Haigood knows about.
Her grandmother, a breast cancer survivor, was able to attend the Think Pink game.
“She has come for the past three years,” Haigood said. “She is one of the most giving ladies ever.” Haigood’s grandmother attends every one of her games to show her grand daughter how proud she is. The two are very close, and her diagnosis was hard on the whole family, but Haigood said her grandmother remained strong.
Stories like that helped the volleyball team as they worked on the fundraiser and game.
“We all felt great about it,” varsity Captain Abby Watts said. “Most people don’t get the opportunity to help.”
The team went into the match with a mindset of total domination.  Their goal was to beat Old High in three matches. They didn’t want the opposing team to have any chance at winning. Which they didn’t.  Rider beat Old High in the first three sets:  25-19, 25-23, 25-15.
“It was such a relief. There was more pressure than usual in trying to make the game exciting,” Watts said. “It boosted our confidence as a team.”

She spikes, She scores

Each game brings about a new set of feelings for Rider’s Varsity Volleyball team.  The Rider/Old High match is no different.  The girls huddle up and say a prayer to calm the nerves, then the time comes, the time to shine.

“I felt numb because of the adrenaline pumping through my body,” Varsity Volleyball co-Captain Abby Watts said.

It all paid off, the nerves, the exitement, the adrenaline, and the prayer when the Lady Raiders won the final match of the 5 match game with a score of 15-11.

“We have a great team this year,” Varsity Volleyball co-Captain Cortny Pritt said. “Each position is spot on.”

The team will be playing Old High again Oct. 10 for the Think Pink game, where they will be raising money for Cancer research. Pritt says the game is important because it involes the whole school from t-shirt sales to donations.

“We’re a team  in Wichita Falls and we make that kind of a difference,” Pritt said. “It’s a priviledge.”

Varsity Volleyball

Coming together as a family, the varsity volleyball team hopes to be successful in the 2009-2010 season.

Members of the team feels that they are doing well because they are functioning as a whole.

“We’re really close as a team and we’re playing our hardest,” Sophomore Cadyn Laing said.

The girls have been handling criticism well, so they can improve.

“The girls have been responsive,” coach TiAda Radtke said. “They’ve dona a good job of changing what we ask them to.”

Even this early in the season the girls have their favorite moments.

“The best part of the season was beating Old High,” Laing said.

Insiders believe that the good mix of players is helping the outcomes of games.

“The team is pretty balanced,” Coach Radtke said. “We’re lucky that everyone contributes equally.”

Players seem to be bonding as a group.

“There’s nothing I would change about the team,” Laing said.

Coach Radtke is positive about the team.

“There have been no major obstacles so far,” Coach Radtke said.