Original: April 12, 2011 Issue 14
By: Whitney De Valroger
Staff Writer
All the conditions were right: the sky was dreary with heavy clouds, spewing a light mist of rain, the temperature inside the gym was a comfortable 71º F; these were perfect dodgeball conditions. The only thing missing were the players.
On April 2, 2011, the Veteran and Active Duty Military Student Club held a dodgeball tournament in the Physical Education Center on the Montgomery College Rockville Campus.
The club is an off shoot of the Combat2College program that facilitates veterans and current students members of the military to acclimate into the college experience. It provides a social atmosphere in which enlisted men and women can gather and meet other service members. Bowling and Dave and Busters trips are just a few of the outings the club organizes.
The tournament was meant to help raise donations for the Fisher House Foundation, a program that provides housing for military families while their loved ones are hospitalized. This year, however, the tournament was cancelled.
Due to lack of registered players, the gymnasium stayed closed for the afternoon. Though a great success last year, raising over $1000, only one team of six players signed up to compete for the tournament this year.
“We held the registration open until Wednesday [March 30, 2011], but we only had one team” said Sean Fay, the club’s faculty advisor. When asked why the tournament garnered such a low participation level, Fay alluded that perhaps it was because most of the students interested in the event last year have simply graduated from MC.
A multitude of other factors could have attributed to the event being shutdown. It could have been the $40 entrance fee per team, poor promotion of the event, or simply a lack of interest in the activity.
When interviewed about possible interest in participating in a dodgeball tournament, MC student Laura Guzman shrugged her shoulders and said, “not really.”
This year’s dodgeball tournament unfortunately did not happen. But that is not the end of this endeavor. Plans for another tournament next year have yet to be made, but with more awareness, as well as a greater participation from the student body, next year’s tournament will surely be a hit!
