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Team SCF consists of athletes from around the world. They’re champs on land, sea, and, in one case, in the air. So far, our roster includes:
We would like to take credit for this gathering of elite sports professionals, but we can’t — the praise belongs to the athletes, whose dedication to spreading the word about sun safety brought them to The Skin Cancer Foundation.
It all began in 2008, when record-setting angler Preston Clark contacted us. As an outdoorsman who’d become aware of the importance of sun safety over the past few years, he wanted to leverage his name for a good cause — skin cancer awareness. Then we heard from Greville Mitchell, Chairman of World Professional Surfers (WPS). He called to tell us that the WPS had identified skin cancer as a problem among surfers, and that they wanted to partner with The Skin Cancer Foundation to tackle the issue in a big way.
We realized that we had to figure out a way to make the most of the athletes’ eagerness to help promote sun safety, and Team SCF began to take shape. We envisioned a group of athletes committed to sun protection and educating the public about the world’s most common skin cancer.
Mitchell offered to send out a sun protection questionnaire to dozens of WPS surfers, who responded in droves. Their thoughtful and occasionally hilarious comments on sun protection and the sun-safe lifestyle were so engaging, we were determined to interview as many of them as possible. Our first round of interviews feature current world champion Mick Fanning and American pro Damien Hobgood.
The burgeoning team was soon joined by skin cancer survivor and golfer Brian Davis and soccer star Lindsay Tarpley (whose advisor loved the concept so much she promptly volunteered Lindsay’s US National teammate Christie Rampone and snowboarding phenomenon Shayne Pospisil, too). It seemed like everyone was eager to help.
These athletes play and compete in many different sports, but all have an interest in skin cancer prevention, a following, and the respect of their peers. Not only that, they good-naturedly took phone calls from us when they could have been surfing, teeing off, scoring goals, fishing, snowboarding in Japan, sleeping, and hanging out with their kids. We are very grateful.
Team SCF is just beginning, so we hope you’ll continue to check in to see who’s joined the team and what they’re up to.
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