Athletes Making Plays

Thousands of collegiate athletes have joined the registry and committed to saving a life through blood stem cell donation.

Get in the Game. Save a Life.

A recruitment program that utilizes the power of collegiate athletics to recruit blood stem cell donors for the Be The Match Registry.

Participants from Get In the Game events have a 30% higher chance of being a match and saving a life

Andy Talley Bone Marrow Foundation

With ninety collegiate football players under his leadership, Coach Talley began his mission to educate and promote awareness about the importance of marrow donor registration by holding his first on-campus testing in the Jake Nevin field house at Villanova University. Coach Talley and his team registered over 200 student athletes and coaching staff from the Villanova University community that fall and continued to organize events on campus for years to come.

In 2008, Be The Match and the Andy Talley Bone Marrow Foundation officially teamed up and formed Get in the Game. Save a Life.

Over the years, the program has grown into hundreds of teams recruiting their peers to join the Be The Match Registry, and has given 770 patients a second chance at life.

Coach Spotlight:

Larry Ciotti

Yale football coach Larry Ciotti has been an integral part of Yale’s Get In The Game success. Yale has been the top performing athletics program across the country, bringing in over 7,432 new registry members and 79 life-saving donations.

Coach Ciotti initially brought the Get In The Game program to Yale in 2009 and they’ve held Get In The Game events every year, in honor of Mandi Schwartz, a Yale student who passed away from acute myeloid leukemia in 2011. The program at Yale has expanded and includes several of the athletics programs on campus who continue to be the top-performing school in the program. 

Coach Ciotti joined the Get In The Game Coaches Council in its inaugural year and is working with Coach Andy Talley and other coaches across the country to bring in new schools to the program, expanding the reach of his life-saving impact into new campuses.

And now the Play-by-Play

Setting up a Get In The Game event is simple. Be The Match will work with you to train the team, plan and execute the event. All you need to do is show up!

  • Contact Us to Get Started

    Be The Match has representatives across the country ready to do all the work on campus to make your event a success.

  • Plan A Drive with Our Help

    Pick a date and your Be The Match Representative will make sure the team is trained on how to educate and recruit their peers to join this life-saving initiative.

  • Host a One Day Event

    Put your plan into action on campus. Athletes will team up at tables to assist people on campus with their Be The Match registration

  • Increase the Odds

    Once the event is over, Be The Match sends the swab kits off and will report back on the life-saving impact your team had on the Be The Match Registry

Get In The Game, a Guaranteed Win

Be The Match makes it easy to host your event, giving you all the tools and support you need to ensure you’re set up for success.

Get In The Game Donors

Get In The Game gives athletes the opportunity to make a difference beyond the field.

Smiling Get In The Game student athlete donors

Get In The Game Colleges Nationwide

Join the ranks of Be The Match schools.

Start Saving Lives