WOMEN'S SOCCER

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BUFFALO, NY - Although summer and fall practices are a long time away, two members of the University at Buffalo women's soccer team are getting an early start on their preparation. Arielle Korczykowski (Derby, NY/Lake Shore) and Erin Tambs (Farnham, NY/Lake Shore) are training to run a marathon on June 20 in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii for the American Stroke Association. Both Korczykowski and Tambs have been affected personally from strokes and feel this is a worthy cause. Korczykowski sees it as an opportunity to make people more aware of stroke.

Arielle Korczykowski

"My whole family, both sides, have been affected by stroke," said Korczykowski, who is a pre-med and exercise science major. "It is kind of an awareness thing."

Each runner is assigned a stroke hero, which is a person in the Buffalo area who has survived a stroke. Korczykowski decided to go the personal route when deciding on her stroke hero. She is planning to run for the father of a former assistant coach of hers. Tambs is also running for someone very close to her who has been affected by a stroke.

Korczykowski and Tambs, who have been best friends since the seventh grade, know that running a marathon isn't easy, but they say that it is something they have wanted to do for a long time and just needed to find the right opportunity. Korczykowski says that the preparation isn't easy.

"Every Saturday we do our long runs, which are between eight and 10 miles, and every other day during the week we do short four to five mile runs and some cross training exercises," she said.

Erin Tambs

A marathon is no joy to run and Korczykowski knows that she still has a long way to go before she can run the 26.2 mile race. Running a marathon has always been a dream for these two juniors, one that they planned on waiting to do until after graduation, but they feel now is the right time to achieve a dream and to do it for a great cause. They both feel that preparing for this marathon has put them in the best shape of their lives. They get tested to see how fast they can run the mile every four weeks.

"We're both into competing and just pushing ourselves," said Tambs, an international business major. "Besides doing something good for the community and others, it's also the chance to experience something we never had before and test our training and ability."

One of the biggest goals for these two student-athletes is raising enough money to get to Hawaii. There is a minimum donation of $4,900 and Korczykowski plans to not only raise that, but much more. While she knows that raising the money will not be easy, she says she is up for the challenge.

"It's really overwhelming because there's only two of us and there is so much money to be raised," she said.

Korczykowski and Tambs are trying to get donations from the UB community and the Buffalo community as a whole. They know college students don't have too much money to offer, but they plan on doing activities that will make students more aware of their cause and will try to get any money that they can. They are writing letters to UB faculty and staff asking if any donations are possible. As for the Buffalo community, Korczykowski says that they are just looking for involvement in helping them fundraise.

Korczykowski and Tambs hope that they can get the chance to run in Hawaii on June 20. They have until the last week in March to get their donations in. They know that every little bit of what they are doing helps. Last fall, "Train to End Stroke" raised over $5 million and they hope to raise more money this spring. This marathon will have participants from 50 cities around the country, all united in one common goal - helping out the American Stroke Association. Korczykowski and Tambs hope to score big and save lives while doing it.

If you would like to make a donation to Korczykowski or Tambs, you can do it either by mail or online. To make a donation via the internet, go to http://www.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=38953 and click on either the name Arielle Korczykowski or Erin Tambs on the right side. You can send a donation by mail to:
Arielle Korczykowski and Erin Tambs
University at Buffalo
203DD-SLV
Buffalo, NY 14261

Any donations are greatly appreciated.

- Written by Brian Wolff, UB Athletic Communications student assistant