Oracle Online

Not unlike the popular movie starring Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughan, the university hosted a dodgeball tournament of its own. However, Hamline’s motives for the tournament did not include raising money to save a struggling gymčthe purpose was to raise money to help the Gulf Coast.

Though it could have been viewed as mere fun and games, the tournament was about much more. It was structured as a fundraiser to help students on the Community Service Investigation Spring break and J-term trips to volunteer their services in the Gulf Coast. The money will be used to aid in the rebuilding efforts due to damage from Hurricane Katrina. The proceeds from the matches and the selling of t-shirts will go directly to the Gulf Coast.

It cost each team 50 dollars for each team to participate in the tournament. Most teams had eight to 12 people, averaging at about $5 per person. In addition to team fees, there is the revenue that will come from tee-shirt sales from the tournament.

According to organizer Julie Karre, the fundraiser brought in just over $1,000, excluding money made from t-shirt sales, which are still being sold for $7 each.

“I came up with the idea of the tournament after Sharon Jaffe approached me asking for help designing a fundraiser. Knowing that dodgeball can be a great game and a great release, I proposed a tournament between all the schools in the Twin Cities,” Karre said.

The dodgeball tournament served as a way for students to support one another in service learning, as well as to engage in a little friendly competition. The fundraiser attracted players from Bethel University, St. Cloud State University, the U of-M Twin Cities, and Concordia College of St. Paul.

Teams didn’t restrict themselves to draft players from only one school. One participating team, the Bethel Bandits, was comprised of members from surrounding schools, including St. Thomas, Wisconsin River Falls, and Augsburg.

Bethel University student and Bandit player Larisa Doherty said, “I think that it [dodgeball] was a brilliant idea. It is usually very difficult to get a lot of participation in normal fundraisers, and this was a fun event that was also efficient in raising a lot of money. As Christians, our team was proud to support a cause that will help students going down to New Orleans, as well as the people they will be helping on their trip. We had a lot of fun and would do it again.”

Even though rival schools came to compete on Hamline’s turf, a Hamline team won the championship. The team, The True Underdogs, lived up to their name as they won the first series that took place on Sunday evening between 13 teams. This allowed them to advance to Monday night where they played the winner of the eight team set and took first place.

“I think this event could have been a lot bigger and better than it was, but it was really hard to get the involvement we wanted. It’s a busy time of the year and teams had to pay to play,” Karre said. “Sad as it is, that combination can destroy an event. Luckily, we had a great group of people work on recruiting teams and we were able to get as many teams as we did. If I could do it all again, I would.”