VACHERIE — Each October, sports teams across America temporarily change their colors to help raise awareness for breast cancer.

St. James High head coach Robert Valdez certainly is all for it, but this year, he wants to do something a little different.

“Players wear pink socks, pink wristbands, pink headbands, all these different kinds of things,” he said. “We’re going to get jerseys that will incorporate the pink with our colors.”

To do that, Valdez has organized a different kind of fundraiser.

“There are kid camps and youth camps and recruiting camps and satellite camps,” he said. “I was looking for something different. I thought, ‘Let’s have a moms camp. Let’s bring the ladies out and show them what it’s like to be a football player.’”

Ladies who have always wanted to know what that’s like will get their chance as Valdez holds his inaugural Wildcat Women’s Camp Saturday, June 25 at Wildcats Stadium in Vacherie. The camp will run from 8 to 11 a.m. The cost is $35.

After a period of stretching (to music, of course), participants will go through a series of offensive stations where they will get to play quarterback, running back, receiver and offensive line, with St. James players and coaches giving demonstrations.

After a halftime, participants will go through the defense, where they can learn how to block and tackle. There even will be a special teams period where ladies can try out their kicking skills.

Valdez says the event is meant to be fun. There will be a disc jockey playing music and plenty of hydration stations.

“There will be no hitting,” he said. “No tackling. No helmets to mess up their hair.”

The event also is a fundraiser designed to help the Wildcats raise awareness for breast cancer and other cancers.

Valdez will use the money raised to buy black, gold and pink jerseys for the football team to wear on the first home game in October, which will be designated as a Cancer Awareness game.

Members of the community who have cancer, who have beaten cancer or who have lost family members to cancer will be invited to participate in a ceremony and balloon release every year during that game.

Each year the camp will raise funds for a different team to purchase pink cancer awareness jerseys.

“Next year it might be basketball or volleyball,” Valdez said. “We want to keep this going.”

Valdez is hoping for a strong turnout from River Parishes moms, grandmothers, sisters and aunts.

“The idea is, in the fall, when she’s sitting on the sofa watching football on TV with her boyfriend or her husband and he tells her why the guy didn’t score, she can correct him,” Valdez said. “She can say, ‘No. He didn’t score because that guy missed a block.’”

For more information contact at rvaldez@stjames.12.la.us or call 225-258-4990. To register online, go to http://www.123contactform.com/form-2000813/Event-Registration-Form. Make all checks payable to St. James High School Athletics, 5181 Wildcat St. St. James, La. 70086.