Citing the advice from Patches O’Houlihan, a character from the 2004 film “Dodgeball”, Brian Hammill ’23 outlined his team’s strategy for the Campus Recreation dodgeball tournament: “We’re gonna dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge.” 

The dodgeball tournament is a fundraiser for Hope for Haiti, a nonprofit organization that strives to improve the quality of life for Haitian children while focusing especially on education, healthcare and clean water resources. The cost to play was $5 per player. 

Organizer Nick Conte ’24 said a friend gave him the idea to use the tournament to raise money after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck Haiti in August. 

“I put two and two together and figured that we’d have the tournament for a good cause,” Conte said.

On Oct. 7, four teams competed in a round robin format, in which a team played every other team in a best-of-seven game. These matches were used to determine the seeding for the double elimination tournament that will determine the teams to play in the championship, which will be held on Oct. 20. 

Hammill’s team, the TRENSetterz, exuded a mixture of humility and confidence before their first game of the tournament.

“We’re just a ragtag team of beasts,” said Nick Manzi ’23.

Also competing in the tournament is Chair Force One, a team representing the Air Force ROTC DET 750. According to Tyler Boucher ’23, a member of the Detachment, the group decided to enter the tournament to foster team bonding and increase campus visibility. 

“Being able to do stuff like this just brings us closer, especially since a lot of these guys are freshmen,” Boucher said. “With them being underclassmen and us being upperclassmen, we’re trying to bridge that gap.” 

There were more first-year students involved in the tournament than just those on Chair Force One. A team of five first-year students defeated the cadets. Although the team seemed inexperienced, they have high confidence of winning it all in the Oct. 20 tournament. According to Connor Anton ’25, this drive is reflected in their team name, Venmo Me.

“After we win, just Venmo Me,” he said

The group of first-year students came to the tournament with the hopes to immerse themselves in the campus community, according to Mason Bulicki ’25.

“[We’re here] to get out with some new classmates and meet new people,” Bulicki said.

Campus Recreation Specialist, Daniel Yen, also had the same hopes for getting more students involved on campus. He said that the tournament gives students the chance to do more within Campus Recreation, especially since the pandemic has limited operations.  

“This gives different populations the opportunity to play,” Yen said.

You can catch the final rounds of dodgeball and see if Venmo Me lives up to their hype on Oct. 20 at 6 p.m. in O’Pake Recreation Center, Upper Gym.