By: Justin Boone
jboone@ticats.ca
Shortly after his wife’s mother passed away four years ago, Fergy Neves decided he wanted to make an impact any way he could to help fund Breast Cancer Research.
As the coach of a girls’ basketball team, it began with having his players sport pink uniforms, to support the cause. From there the drive took off, and has become bigger than Neves, or his team, the Sultan Prospects, had ever expected.
“We do an awful lot of traveling throughout the year, so we have to subsidize that with some fundraising events. We’ve tied this into Breast Cancer Research and it’s really ballooned since that happened,” Neves stated.
“We have teams donate money, $1,000, and we make a pink set of uniforms for them. They wear the uniforms at different times throughout the year and people know that they’ve played in our tournament.”
In the last two years alone, the Sultan Prospects have raised over $12,500.
The tournament has expanded from 12 teams in it’s inaugural season, to 34 this year with over 410 competitors taking part and more than half of the teams hailing from outside of Oakville.
“These are some of the top teams from the province, so we’re lucky to have them here,” said Neves.
Ticats vs. Argos
As the event’s coordinator, Neves decided to add a little star power and incorporated a charity game between the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Toronto Argonauts.
“I have a relationship with the Toronto Argonauts, and many of their players. We’ve started to build one now with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. A lot of the players know each other, and there’s a big rivalry, like it is on the football field, but they’re really good sports,” he admitted.
Several members of the Ticats organization laced up their high-tops for a good cause including safety Sandy Beveridge and defensive back Michael Roberts. The game was wide open with both clubs playing what can only be called “soft” defence, instead focusing on making highlight plays to entertain the fans on hand.
“This is my second year coming out to this event, and it’s for a great cause obviously,” said Beveridge. “I’ve been pretty fortunate. You have to keep your fingers crossed that hopefully it doesn’t touch your life, but at the same time you know it does touch other people’s lives, so we’re just trying to come out, raise some money, raise some awareness, and have a good time.”
