Brevin Scullion and Kaleb McCloud

Staff Writers

For the first time since 2014, the Jamesville-DeWitt High School freshman class officers will be hosting a dodgeball tournament for all grades to participate in on Thursday, Feb. 15. A team can have up to seven players and will compete against each other in a bracket-style tournament. The winners of each bracket will receive a trophy and they will face off against the faculty “all-stars”. Teams will not only compete against each other on the court; the team with the best costume will also take home a prize.

To be eligible to participate, each player must have a permission slip signed by their parent and bring in $4. A team can only have up to three baseball players. For safety purposes there are two brackets: one for a freshmen and sophomores and one for juniors and seniors. Along with that, instead of using classic dodgeballs, they are using softer, smaller foam balls to ensure that all participants stay safe.

“The last time we did it was 2014, and that was a big fundraiser for the turf,” said Student Counselor Will Hartley. This year the tournament will be used to raise money for the Freshman Class. They hope to get upwards of 20 teams, but only 14 have signed up so far. Although they have good number right now and expect plenty more teams to sign up, they are light on upperclassmen teams. “Right now we only have one or two, but I think we’ll get a couple of more, at least that is the goal,” said Freshman Class Vice President Johnny Keib.

“I’m really excited that dodgeball is back at JD. It is a cool way to raise money and it is definitely thinking outside of the box,” said sophomore Gavin McCaul, who is participating in the tournament. Freshman Class officers are confident that the tournament will help a lot with fundraising. “I think we will raise a lot of money off of it,” said Freshman Class President Marcus Payne; “it was very successful in the past so I don’t see why it wouldn’t be this year.” The Freshman Class officers hope to raise the money for future events that they want to have, such as a possible show called “JD’s Got Talent.” “We’re very confident that this will be a successful event,” said Keib.

The 2014 dodgeball tournament wasn’t new to the people at J-DHS either. “Previous to 2014 there were four or five tournaments. It was a big deal,” said Mr. Hartley. “I think we’ll definitely have a good turnout, and I think we’ll hold in in the years to come,” said Keib. The tournament is at J-DHS at 6:00 p.m. this Thursday, show up and support the Freshman Class.