Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/541265
The 13th annual Lift For Life fundrais- er took place July 11 at the Penn State Lacrosse Field under a bright sun and clear skies. The weather mirrored the mood of the participants. "For us, it's a fun event," redshirt sophomore tight end Adam Breneman said. "We're out here trying to raise money for kidney cancer. We're not treating it like we've got a game out here, but it's fun. "What makes it cool is that the whole team is involved. Everyone is out here. I think this year we did a really good job of getting everyone to raise money through their family. I think we had over half the team raise over $200, which is pretty impressive compared to previous years." As of July 12, the fundraising tally for this year's event was $119,843. Since its inception, Lift For Life has raised more than $1 million in support of the Kidney Cancer Association. Ben Kline, a fifth-year senior line- backer and president of Penn State's chapter of Uplifting Athletes, worked out after missing the 2014 season due to an injury. He said the opportunity to get back out and lift in front of Penn State's dedicated fans – about 2,500 attended this year's event – was one that he cher- ished. "It's a really interesting thing at Penn State and I think it's really unique, the culture of service and how important this is for us," he said. "We're the largest annual donor to a nationwide association, so that's really special, and I think to come and not take advantage of that and be a part of it and build it and try to make it better is a missed op- portunity. "A lot of work goes on behind the scenes to make sure that we raise a good sum of money and we can provide awareness for kidney cancer patients and rare disease patients. The opportu- nity to do that today is really exciting, and then to be able to be out in front of our fans and do some physical activity in front of people for the first time in a while is really fun and kind of gets us ready to go for the season." The six-event competition pitted of- fensive players against their defensive counterparts. The offense won, 31-30, after prevailing in the day's final compe- tition – the tug of war. Now that Lift For Life is over, the next big event on the Nittany Lions' football calendar is the start of preseason prac- tice in August. Breneman, who has made a full recovery from the knee injury that forced him to redshirt last season, said anticipation is growing. "This is kind of the end of the summer, and we're winding down now, getting ready for the season," he said, "so this makes us itch for the season a little bit more being out here." – NATE BAUER LFL donations surpass $100,000 THIS MEANS WAR The of- fense-vs.-de- fense competi- tion came down to the fi- nal event – the tug of war, in which the of- fense pre- vailed. Photo by Tim Owen NEWS & NOTES