On Oct. 8 at 5:50 p.m., 100 NYU Abu Dhabi community members clad in pink T-shirts and gym clothes eagerly awaited the commencement of the annual PINK Fitness Games. After an animated Zumba warm-up session, participants divided into teams and prepared for 30 minutes of intense exercise. The teams undertook two sets of one-minute exercises that included a stint on a stationary bike and burpees.

Animated volunteers cheered for the teams from the sidelines, pushing them to work harder and not give up. Students and faculty came together to raise awareness for breast cancer in this annual NYUAD event, emceed by a tutu-wearing Interim Director of Health and Wellness, Wayne Young.

The first fitness games were held in 2015 in Multi-Purpose Room 2, with 10 participants. Dan Gill, Fitness Center Manager, was excited to see how the event has evolved into what it is today.

“It always occurred in October so we decided to make it in support of breast cancer awareness month. It’s grown from the first one which was about 10 student participants to last year being approximately 70 community members,” Gill commented.

Gill was elated to see students participating in the planning process as well as in the games themselves. Gill credited the event’s design to Carlos Escobar, Class of 2018. The 2018 PINK Games incorporated lots of student input — from lighting and music to T-shirt design.

“At the end of the day, cancer is unfortunately very common. It affects the majority of us in some way, shape or form so if we can get one or two students to be a little more self aware and self-check it’s a successful event in my opinion,” said Gill about his future hopes for the games.

Since the event’s inception in 2015, student participation has been key to its success. Sebastiano Pio Matera, Class of 2021 and one of the student volunteers, considers the games and other events during October as a way to honor his mother, who is a two-time breast cancer survivor. Matera — whose mother was first diagnosed with cancer when he was in the fifth grade — now considers his mother healthier than he is, very active and full of life.

“My biggest advice is to always be open to talk,” said Matera. “My mother was always open to talk to people who have the disease or had people that they know that have the disease. And it's incredible how much talking or having an open space or a platform can really help and affect them in a positive way in terms of having someone to empathize with. So I would say talk, always talk.”

Matera added that providing support is key. “Be open to support and always be there in their corner. Because you never know when someone's going to need that extra push. Whether that's with breast cancer or any other disease or even sometimes people just have things that they struggle with day by day.”

He added that the PINK Games are an appropriate symbol for the battle against cancer and even life in general.

“There are points were it sort of gets very difficult to push forward and make sure that we can push through, whether it is at the end of a set or some work on a final project that means a ton for your grade, I feel like exposing ourselves to that type of situation helps us to really realize what people are going through when they are going through cancer,” remarked Matera.

He is very happy about the event’s ability to promote awareness about breast cancer and hopes even more students attend next year.

A very excited and sweaty Andres Ancona and Stella Xu, both Class of 2022, shared their thoughts about the event. “Everything was amazing, everyone was so happy, we were all motivated so it was very good,” said Ancona, although slightly disappointed that his team did not win.

Xu was also excited about the games, saying that “It’s good that they made an event that is good for our health and also creates awareness in the student body [about] breast cancer.”

Different departments within the university have also planned events intended to raise awareness for breast cancer throughout the month of October. Additionally, Health and Wellness will continue to provide information and other materials to anyone who stops by the center.