Senior Jack Besse of “The Clique” snatched a fastball coming towards him in a one-on-one battle with Will Nelson that ended “The Hockey Studs” run for a dodgeball tournament championship.
“The Hockey Studs,” a team expected to go far into the tournament, was thunderstruck by their loss. “The whole place erupted and the whole hockey team fell over because they couldn’t believe he didn’t get him. The hockey studs were out then,” said Ms. Katie McDonald, the organizer of the tournament.
“The Clique” overcame their one loss that placed them in the loser’s bracket by playing and defeating “YAKWIA” (You Already Know What It Ain’t) in the championship series. Because of the double elimination, The Clique had to beat the undefeated YAKWIA twice in order to be the tournament champions. “Coming up as underdogs, we added Jack Besse who was the hero for us. Everyone who thought The Clique was weak was proved wrong,” said senior Charlie Gondeck.
Not only was it a difficult task for The Clique, but they had to fight through the pain from going all out to win each game. “It was physically exhausting. My arm felt like it was going to fall off but we had to fight through it to win,” said senior John Jaeger.
This win was achieved over tough competition throughout the tournament from all grades and even a team made up of junior high teachers. “The kids who played [the junior high men’s teachers] team thought it was really fun to play against their teachers,” said Ms. McDonald.
The goals for the tournament were for people to have fun and bring the community (students and teachers) together to do something outside of school. “We’ll continue to encourage people to sign up for this kind of thing because people who did participate in the tournament said they had a blast,” said Ms. McDonald.
With 16 teams total, two being coed, the Haben Center transformed into a hot room with a sweaty aroma and an increasing noise starting when each match was over. “It was a little crazy but fun. For the most part people were really good and we had a really good time. It was a lot of fun with lots of energy,” said Ms. McDonald.
Looking into the future, a second tournament is being looked at as a possibility as long as there is a growth in interest and volunteers. “Maybe in the spring we’ll do one when winter sports are over and things calm down in the school. It’s a lot of work,” said Ms. McDonald.
With the tournament expected to grow in both coed and non-coed teams, more help will be needed. “[If I do decide to hold another tournament] I would ask for more volunteers because it was hard running it without any adults there,” said Ms. McDonald.
