Danyel Fogarty
Staff Writer
Dodgeball is not just a game that is played on the playground in elementary school anymore.
On April 8, the Old Gym bleachers were filled with spectators as the University of La Verne community watched the Campus Activities Board’s first intramural dodgeball tournament.
The hit 2004 movie “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story” has created a dodgeball frenzy, CAB Chair Wendy Schwartz said.
Ben de Ayora, intramural chair of CAB, recognized dodgeball’s popularity and decided to shake up intramural sports with a new idea.
“I just felt that dodgeball would be the perfect sport for La Verne and I was right,” de Ayora said. “It is now the most successful intramural sport in school history with 20 teams participating.”
Twenty teams of six signed up to participate in the dodgeball tournament. The teams faced off against one another to try to eliminate the opposing teams.
“You get hit and you’re out, you throw it and it’s caught and you’re out. You can’t cross the lines, and six to a team,” de Ayora said. “The same way we all played as kids.”
Each team got to play everyone in their pool. The teams with the best records after the game move advanced on to the semi-finals.
Positive response and large turnout, sparked the tournament continued yesterday followed by a championship game.
Teams were comprised of fraternity members, friends, classmates and anyone who wanted to participate.
“The Phi Delta Theta fraternity members encouraged the pledge class to make a team,” participant Mike Gonzales said. “Our team could have done better, but it was great.”
Dodgeball is not a traditional sport that requires years of practice, it’s a sport that anyone can participate in, Schwartz said.
The tournament lasted two days, including the semi-finals and finals, ending on Thursday.
Danyel Fogarty can be reached at sadeyez619@hotmail.com.
