Staff photo / J.T. Whitehouse Stopping a brief moment to pose on the newly painted pink pickleball courts at Greasel Park are Salem Regional Hospital Director of Development Amy Reed, Canfield Village Middle School Principal Judd Rubin, event founders Hadley Moser and Nick Folsom, ASE Sports representatives Fletcher Christie and Tyler Christie, and Canfield City Manager Dave D’Apolito. The group got together Tuesday afternoon to iron out the final details of the Pink Out Pickleball Tournament set for Saturday.

CANFIELD — Two of the six pickleball courts at Greasel Park are wearing pink for Saturday’s Pink Out Pickleball Tournament.

The event is the idea of two Canfield High School teens who want to raise funds for breast cancer patients at Salem Regional Medical Center.

The idea for the tournament starts with Nick Folsom, 18, son of Eric and Angelica Folsom and a senior at Canfield High School, who started the Teen Health and Medical Society Club there.

“I had taken classes at John Hopkins University two summers back,” he said. “That is where I learned about this organization.”

He said it has 42 chapters across the U.S. and he wanted to bring one to Canfield High School. The club promotes good health for teens and women in need.

At CHS, junior Hadley Moser, 16, daughter of Heather and Rob Moser, joined the club and rose to vice president. The club grew to 40 members and ideas were popping up.

Moser’s father works at Salem Regional Medical Center and works with cancer patients. Salem Regional’s Director of Development Amy Reed said, “We have world class cancer care locally. We are a nationally accredited breast cancer center and have been nationally recognized for our imaging services for early diagnosis.”

Those services are available in the Canfield center at Millennial Moments.

Through family connection, and the new club Moser joined, the idea was born to have a fundraiser for breast cancer.

Moser suggested hosting a pink out pickleball tournament to help raise funds for breast cancer patients. Folsom liked the idea and the two club officers went to work on it.

They partnered with the hospital to create the event with a slogan of “just bring a paddle to fight the battle.”

Taking it a step further, Moser contacted Fletcher Christie about the tournament idea.

Christie, owner of ASE Sports, is the one who resurfaced the Canfield High School tennis courts. For him, being part of this tournament carried a personal involvement.

“It’s a great cause,” Christie said. “My oldest sister Allison Rollinson was a 13-year breast cancer survivor and my office manager Gabrielle Dohar is a breast cancer survivor as well.”

Christie immediately contacted City Manager Dave D’Apolito and was able to have the pickleball courts at Greasel Park shut down for two days last week to allow his crew to paint the center two courts pink, along with the pink breast cancer ribbon painted in the “kitchen” area of the court. The kitchen is the marked area where the net is.

“All the materials we needed were provided by Sealmaster through L.J. Rich,” Christie said.

The work was wrapped up late last week and the courts were ready to be reopened.

“From this point on, it just seemed like the word spread,” said Heather Moser.

“Everyone in the community has done nothing but support this event. From our principals, our new athletic directors, the students, their parents….so many people have come together to make this happen.”

Reed decided to make this an annual event and informed the two founders. She also enabled the CHS club to get a tour of the hospital and decide where the money goes to help patients.

The club will be presenting a big pink check to Reed at the Canfield football game on Oct. 18. There are pink shirts available for purchase weeks prior to that event. The crowd also will have pink glow sticks to show their support.

The tournament will take place Saturday at Greasel Park beginning at 9 a.m.

The fee is $50 per player and $25 per student. People can sign up by email at teenhealthandmedicine@gmail.com, online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3ZSJYR6, or by phone at 330-507-7779.