By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 1/17/09
BALTIMORE – The HEADstrong Foundation announced Friday it was launching a new program called “Score For A Cure” to involve scholastic and youth lacrosse players in its drive to 
raise money for blood cancer research in the name of the late Nick Colleluori.
The program kicked off at the opening of the US Lacrosse National Convention here at the Baltimore Convention Center in yet another program to honor the name of the former Ridley High (PA) and Hofstra University player who passed away Nov. 28, 2006 from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Cheryl Colleluori, President of the HEADstrong Foundation, said the program follows the foundation’s goal by tapping into the vast numbers of young lacrosse players through use of sponsorships and positive rewards. In only two years HEADstrong has raised over $200,000 for cancer research, mostly through its well-known Nick Colleluori Classic as well as corporate sponsorships and sales of its popular lime green laces.
“We have the college kids on board and we have the pros on board,” said Colleluori, Nick’s mother. “Now let’s penetrate with the high school kids and the youth (players).
“The feedback that we’ve received is that Nick is being viewed as a hero, as a role model, And so we want to keep it (the fund drive) going.”
Colleluori said Nick Colleluori Tournament Director Matthew Flynn first developed the idea for Score For A Cure. In this on-line (www.headstrongfoundation.org) program, a high school or youth player donates $15 to register and receives a packet that includes a t-shirt, a pair of laces and a form to track sponsorships.
The participant simply solicits pledges based on team-oriented accomplishments such as goals and victories and sends in a donation check from pledge money at the end of the season. HEADstrong offers incentive rewards such as shirts, sack packs, sticks, i-Pod Nanos and helmets. All lacrosse items are lime green and display the trademark HEADstrong logo.
Nick’s brother, Michael Colleluori, a starting senior midfielder at Hofstra, said the program is another tribute to a person who, despite being so ill, himself created the idea of HEADstrong and the goal of curing blood cancer by raising awareness.
“As a committee and as a foundation, we were thinking about how to spread Nick’s awareness even more,” Michael said. “Because we’re getting to the point that we need to do that, we want more people to find out and we need new things.
“We were thinking about getting the younger people that are involved in lacrosse more involved in our foundation and what we stand for. And what a better way to do it with the Score for a Cure?”
The HEADstrong Foundation had a large tent area Friday night to display their information and registration forms. The reaction was all positive.
“Things are going well,” Michael Colleluori said. “Today is the first day we launched. We had a great response, a great crowd here. People are really interested in it. Hopefully, they take it back to their teams and spread the word.”
