Despite covering such a heavy topic, Coach Marshall was able to bring some joy to some of the most important women in the lives of our student-athletes. Read on to find out how....

For maybe more than a handful of you, this will be a tough topic. Just knowing your backgrounds, your personal lives and things that you have already gone through. But I think it's very important both for you as well for us who haven't experienced maybe what you are experiencing or have experienced to talk about it.

As you are well aware, October brings about Breast Cancer Awareness Month. 

There's colors we wear all the time for all types of different causes. I mean even here at school seems like every month there's a different awareness campaign. 

But one of the most prominent is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

And the reason why it's the most prominent is because, in regards to females it is the second leading cause of death.

The number one cause of death in Americans is heart disease.

Number two for both men and women combined is lung cancer.

But when you differentiate between the sexes, breast cancer is the number two killer of all American women.

Over 287,000 women will be diagnosed this year.

One out of eight women on the planet will be diagnosed. That's what that number boils down to. And 1 out of 39 will not make it.

All right, I don't bring this up to to make this meeting and this meal sad and somber. But you wonder why people wear pink. It's not just because we wear pink and there's a whole bunch of sayings and phrases and things that go along with wearing pink for breast cancer awareness.

The fact of the matter is you're recognizing the women in your life.

Whether they're afflicted or not; you are recognizing them for who they are and the toughness that they have as:

• mothers
• aunts
• grandmothers
• siblings
• sisters

So tonight what I would like you to do in recognition of them:

Whether this is something you have experienced in your personal life

Whether this is something that you may experience

Or if you will have the fortune to never have this affect your family or your friend group in any way shape or form

I want you to weigh in on this, please!

Typically at this point I'd ask you to take hats off. Put phones up and then phones down.

But, what I'd like you to do right now instead... is to take your phones out.

I'd like to open up a text message and I would like you to if your mom is still with us, maternal, biological, stepmom, grandma, aunt, or sister: Whatever female figure you have in your life, I would like you to send them a message.

And I'd like that message to be something to the effect where you are thanking them for their strength; their courage; their love; their compassion that they have for you and for your family in any way shape or form.

This is not something that I want you to take lightly.

This is something I want you to think hard on. Because in this room we have predominantly males. And in our society, we have a very very hard time for males to express emotion.

Many times we have a hard time to express love and compassion.

We sometimes think it's a a weakness to do those things.

But imagine not having that conversation...

And I know "it's just a text" and I know some of you are going to go home and you'll say you love you to your parents and your mother specifically.

But I want you to think on that.

How many times do you do it?

Not just out of pre-programmed rote memory.

Hi Mom, I love you.

Or whomever it may be, Grandma.

But actually add some substance to it.

Some meaning to it.

So in that message, whether you're typing it now or whether you're still thinking on it, I want you to think about what they've done for you and continue to do for you or have done for you in the past.

In some cases because they're no longer with us.

And if you're sending it to someone who is not a mom or a motherly figure... please include what they mean to you and why they mean that to you and be sure you go ahead and send that off.

Alright?

I don't know if you saw last night, and I won't use names because I don't want to put his name out there in the public. But did any of you see the older gentleman that came towards the end of practice that I spent about 15-20 minutes with?

Again, without using his name, his wife of many many years just battled breast cancer and lost her battle on September 15th.

A little bit about out this gentleman: He's probably one of my greatest mentors in my life. All right, in my adult life. I will say because I didn't meet him until after college.

I had the fortune to coach his son. I was fortunate enough to get to know him and his family.  I mean we go back. As far as we used to play pickup basketball at Ben Franklin with the teachers there and his daughter who also are Valparaiso alums would be there as well.

He is a staple in this community.

His family has been a staple in education in Northwest Indiana and specifically at Portage and in Valparaiso for nearly four decades and he just lost his wife to breast cancer.

So on our first team meal in October, with that in mind I'd like you if you haven't done so already to please hit send.

Remember these conversations are not ones that are taken lightly.

Think about what moms, aunts, grandmas, and even sisters (no matter how much you butt heads at times) Think about how much they do for you AND how much they mean to you. 🎗️

In case you missed it... here's our Homecoming King's cartwheel.