Sometimes working out can benefit others in more ways than just in personal growth.

The Illinois Chapter of Uplifting Athletes held its annual Lift for Life event on Friday in the Irwin Indoor Practice Facility on the campus of the University of Illinois.

Lift for Life is the signature fundraising event for the Uplifting Athletes nationwide network and for the Illinois chapter, this is their ninth time competing in the event.

Proceeds from the event benefit people with rare diseases, which also brings awareness of the issue with rare diseases and funding rare disease research.

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Andrew Carter, who was an Illinois offensive lineman in 2011 and battled the rare disease acoustic neuroma, which subsequently ended his football playing career.

Carter ended up being a survivor from his rare disease and remains a strong supporter of the cause.

The coordinators for the 2021 event, Alex Palczewski and Michael Marchese, led a group of ten teams that had an NFL style draft of players being commissioned by Strength and Conditioning Coordinator Tank Wright.

Palczewski had the first pick in the draft, and chose his team based on what he had seen each do in the various strength events, which included a tire flip, tug of war, and several stations of weights in the new Smith Center facility.

However, at the end of the day, both Palczewski and Marchese know that their involvement in the cause will benefit people who suffer from these diseases long after they leave the University of Illinois.

Palczewski willed his team to the overall title but sees the bigger picture as much more than bragging rights.

“It was nice to win (the event), but this event is for a greater goal, which is to help raise awareness for rare diseases and generate some funding to help find a cure,” Palczewski said.

Marchese, who switched to tight end at the end of last season, was pleased with the turnout, especially with some of the younger players that were doing this for the first time.

“I thought the turnout was really good, and with the new guys that either just arrived on campus or joined us from other schools, they sometimes seem a bit shy about doing something like this, but this group was very outgoing and made it a great event,” Marchese said.

With summer workouts ongoing for the entire squad, the coaching staff is not allowed to meet with everyone so the bulk of the training is done by Wright, who has a regimented process of getting guys where they need to be once training camp begins in a few weeks.

“He does a really good job of getting our minds right and sets the tone for what we do every day,” Marchese said.

Even though Wright has only been here a few months, he was instrumental in helping plan the different stations, but credits Palczewski and Marchese for spearheading the event.

“They organized the teams, and I created the different stations that they went through, but the players did this on their own free time and this is not one of our individual workouts,” Wright said. “They realize the cause that they are working for and are passionate about making a difference, albeit in a fun way.”

Of the ten teams, there were shirts and ties worn by Palczewski’s team, camo wear donned by Team Marchese, and several others ranging from white shirts to no shirts, with even a team of themed jerseys, which allowed some of the players to show their personalities that are not evident on game days.

The final event, the sled push, drew a crowd and the weight of the sled, as Wright said, was 889 pounds. Several guys were able to push it down the field, and according to Wright, they will get a chance to do it again later in the season.

“When we began with the players, there were very few that could budge the sled, but now there are many more that are able to move it. Young guys like Josh Kreutz and Zach Barlev both have exemplified their strength by pushing the sled, and others will follow suit as they get stronger as well,” Wright said.