When the UCLA swimming team wears pink caps rather than its usual blue caps in the next home meet, it will be more than just a symbolic moment for every member of the team who has been affected by breast cancer.
“My mom had breast cancer. It means a lot that the team is setting aside time and thinking about the cause,” said junior swimmer Rachel Owen. “She’s (coming to the meet). She’s probably going to cry.”
The Bruins will be doing their part to raise breast cancer awareness and funds for research at the Iris Cantor-UCLA Women’s Health Center. They will be sporting the new caps and selling $5 tickets for their meet against Stanford on Jan. 29. In charge of the event is assistant swimming coach Naya Higashijima, who has been working with Aly Shoji, director of development at the Iris Cantor-UCLA Women’s Health Center.
“We originally had a swim meet at home in October that was designed for us to have the breast cancer awareness event,” Higashijima said. “(The swim meet) got moved due to (a) water polo game being broadcasted. We didn’t have a home meet in the fall so we picked the first home meet of the season.”
During Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, the Bruins wore the pink caps at road meets against UC Santa Barbara and Oregon State. The upcoming meet will give the team a chance to sport the caps at home, in the team’s first competition to air on the Pac-12 Network this season.
“This is the first year since I’ve been on the team that we’ve done breast cancer awareness as a group,” said senior swimmer Madison Applegate. ”It really brings us all together (because) pretty much everyone has it in common whether it’s through a friend, a mom, or someone you know.”
About one in eight women in the United States will develop invasive breast cancer over their lifetime, according to breastcancer.org. In 2015, 231,840 new cases of invasive breast cancer were estimated to have been diagnosed in women in the U.S.
For many swimmers on the team, breast cancer was a tough and personal subject to talk about.
“My grandmother and my aunt currently both have (breast cancer) so they aren’t attending but my mom is and she’s been really impacted by it,” said junior swimmer Nina Hayes. “The last few months have been really hard so I think doing this for her is really important.”
While this will likely be the Bruins final meet wearing the pink swim caps, the message will continue to resonate with the team through the season.
“It’s been a crazy year and (my mom’s) now in remission,” Owen said. “It’s going to be really awesome now that she’s on the other side to see people come together to support the cause.”