Penn State football’s annual Lift for Life event is canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic
While some Penn State football players have returned to campus and begun voluntary workouts, one of the team’s biggest events of the summer — Lift for Life — has been canceled due to uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Uplifting Athletes, which works with student-athletes to organize Lift for Life events at about two dozen colleges across the country, announced Wednesday that it’s suspending all its events this summer.
“COVID-19 has led to many adjustments of the college athletic schedule,” the statement read. “The student-athletes and the programs we work with face a condensed time frame to prepare for the upcoming season, while under heightened safety precautions. To avoid any additional pressure, Uplifting Athletes will not hold any of our Lift for Life events this summer.”
Uplifting Athletes, founded by Penn State football teammates Scott Shirley, Dave Costlow and Damone Jones in 2003, raises thousands of dollars annually to benefit the rare disease community. The Penn State chapter alone raised $50,682 at last year’s event, and $1,442,798 since its inception. Overall, Uplifting Athletes has donated nearly $5 million in the fight against rare diseases.
Although the traditional Lift for Life events will not happen this summer, Uplifting Athletes said it plans to make an announcement on June 22 about other ways fans can donate. Penn State’s Lift for Life is typically held the same week as the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, which was also canceled this year.
In addition to raising money, Lift for Life has also been a staple of Penn State’s summer workout schedule, where players get to show off the physical improvements they’ve made over the offseason, and strength coach Dwight Galt gives an update on the players’ progress. Last year, approximately 1,000 fans came to Holuba Hall to watch more than 100 Nittany Lions compete in strength and conditioning tests.
While the offseason event was canceled, optimism still remains for the 2020 football season to go on as scheduled. Penn State football players began a phased return to campus last week to start voluntary workouts. The NCAA approved a plan for preseason football camp on Wednesday that allows Penn State to begin its regular preseason practices and meetings on July 13.
Penn State is scheduled to start its season Sept. 5 against Kent State at Beaver Stadium.
