SSUSA AGREES TO SPONSORSHIP WITH CANCER AWARENESS

Sept. 1, 2010 – David Peterson

Veteran senior softball players have heard this story far too many times: A player shows up at the ballpark expecting a day of fun in the sun only to discover that one of his teammates is in the late stages of cancer.

Senior Softball USA recognizes that men often have a difficult time talking about health concerns and are slow to report problems and for that reason, SSUSA has agreed to participate in a cancer awareness program for its players.

The program created by Pete Davignon, a board member of the Northern California Senior Softball Association, is designed to call on players who a history of cancer to make themselves available to share their story or to talk about cancer awareness, testing, symptoms, treatment or doctors and facilities.

CAN-Sirs, Pete Davignon’s cancer awareness program, acknowledges that

men often avoid health issues and think of excuses not to talk to their doctors which hurts their chances of early detection of the dreaded disease. Major League Baseball recently said that “in the time it takes to play nine innings of baseball, nine men will die of prostate cancer and most of these deaths could have been prevented by a routine prostate exam.”

It is our hope that senior players will look to their teammates and competitors who volunteer to the CAN-Sirs team for support and information to better help themselves and find the necessary resources for early detection and prevention of cancer.

CAN-Sirs can be found on the web at Can-Sirs.org and SSUSA will be introducing the program at the World Championships in Phoenix in October. Players will be able to identify the CAN-Sirs team by an arm band announcing the player as a member of the team.