By Meghan Greene
The Western New England University annual Intramural Dodgeball tournaments have officially started.
There are three different dodgeball tournaments. There are two coed leagues that take place on Thursdays and Sundays, respectively, and an only men’s league that plays on Sundays.
Currently, nine teams are competing in the coed tournaments, and there are six teams in the men’s league fighting for victory. All of the teams have more than interesting team names.
The games started as of Thursday, February 11. They will continue to the playoffs, which start Thursday, March 4.
Twelve games are able to happen each night. The Anthony S. Caprio Alumni Healthful Living Center gym is divided into two courts, and four teams are able to play at once. There are two games every hour for a two hour time period.
Dodgeball is one of the few intramurals that was able to be held this year and still adhere to COVID-19 and social distancing guidelines held by the University and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We have dedicated our time as officials to make sure that the COVID guidelines are met at all times,” said undergraduate Senior, intramural supervisor and official Chandler Magnuson, who has been working with intramurals at the AHLC for four years.
Some of the protocols put into place for dodgeball include wearing a mask at all times, only to be removed at a safe distance to drink water, and players have to socially distance if they are on the sideline.
At the start of the game, the six dodgeballs are placed in the center of the court. They are divided in half though, and three of the balls are grouped toward one sideline, while the other half is more toward the other. The players are asked that they grab the three dodgeballs that are towards their right side. This is in order to keep and maintain a safe distance away from the rival team while playing.
The teams are also asked by the intramural officials to keep a maximum of about ten players on a team, and there are six players on the court to start. They dwindle down in normal dodgeball fashion as in: if you are hit, then you are eliminated from the game. A player can only return if a ball thrown by the opposing team is caught.
“We want to make sure that we can keep the games going in a safe way, but still make sure that everyone can have fun, and energy levels are still high,” Magnuson further explains.
Energy levels were at a high during the first night of games.
Players were able to cheer on their teammates from the sideline, and communicate throughout the game in order to play well. Some teams were able to coordinate similar outfits to wear in order to keep team morale; for example, one team wore all black, and another team wore floral, Hawaiian-style button up shirts. The competitive nature of intramurals was still present regardless of COVID-19 protocols.
The games are played by matches, and the winner is decided by the best of three. The matches take no longer than five or six minutes, and there are rules in place to make the games run faster and keep up with time slots.
Championship games will take place around the last week of March, and are determined by single elimination games during the playoffs.
The winning teams of the intramural dodgeball tournaments will receive free t-shirts, get their picture taken, and naturally, have bragging rights among their peers.
Intramurals have always been a way for students at Western New England University to engage in activities outside of the classroom with their friends or to meet new people. “If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball,” (Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story 2004).
