The 10th annual Lift for Life event, which involves over eighty members of the Penn State Football team, is set to take place Friday night from 5-7 pm at the lacrosse field across from Holuba Hall. There should be a few key differences from the previous nine years.

The first two differences are the time and venue. Rather than taking up four or five hours of the afternoon, everything will be condensed into an approximate two hour window. Competitions will also take place outside as opposed to Holuba Hall, which has traditionally hosted the event. In the case of rain, it will be moved indoors to the Multisport facility. Thankfully, the weather is looking pretty good right now.

The other big difference will be the competition format. Like the Blue-White game this past spring, the offense will face off against the defense in seven events. More specifically, the quarterbacks and wide receivers will compete against the defensive backs, the running backs and tight ends will compete against the linebackers, and the offensive linemen will compete against defensive linemen. The previous format included teams of four competing in eleven different competitions.

While there are some stark contrasts to the old event under the new regime of Bill O’Brien and strength and conditioning coach Craig Fitzgerald, the original goal that former Penn State wide receiver Scott Shirley envisioned when he founded the Penn State Chapter of Uplifting Athletes in 2003 remains the same. Over $600,000 has been raised for the Kidney Cancer Assocation to date, including over $100,000 last year, which makes Life for Lift the largest student-athlete run philanthropy in the world

Senior offensive tackle Mike Farrell is this year’s president of the Penn State Chapter. Eric Shrive, Mike Yancich, and Ty Howle serve as vice president, secretary, and head of operations respectively.

The event remains open to the public, with doors opening at 4:30 and the chance for autographs from former and current Nittany Lions. A small donation is suggested for attendees and can also be made online. Lift for Life will also serve as the first event for a revamped Code Blue program for students.

Onward State will be covering the event, and hopefully you will be there as well to support a good cause from our football team.