By Rob Potter
LAKE HUNTINGTON — April 7, 2006 – Students and parents packed the Sullivan West High School gymnasium on Tuesday night for an athletic competition.
But it was not a basketball game or volleyball match that brought dozens of people to the Lake Huntington school on an early spring evening.
Instead the sport featured was dodgeball, where having a strong throwing arm, possessing the ability to catch the ball and displaying a great deal of agility are all keys to being successful.
A total of 150 SW junior high and high school students participated in the event. The teams were divided into junior high and high school divisions. The squads were allowed to have seven, eight or even nine players, but only six players per team were allowed on the court at one time.
As in the traditional gym class version of the sport, a player is eliminated when he or she is hit with a ball thrown by an opponent or when an opposing player catches the ball that he or she threw. When a squad eliminated each member of the opposing team, that squad moved on to the next round of the double-elimination tournament.
If both teams had players remaining after the three-minute time limit elapsed, the squad with more players won the contest.
However, if there were an equal number of players on each team left after time expired, the squads began an overtime period. In the extra session, the players moved from the basketball court boundaries into the volleyball court area – which meant they had less room in which to run around and avoid the ball.
After several rounds of competition, a team known as “The Minorities” won the championship match of the junior high division. The team members included: Autumn Ackermann, Ryan Alsdorf, Mike Pierce, Robert Rosa, John Story, Austin Sauer, Shawn Taylor and Mark Tesseyman.
In the high school division, a squad of sophomores prevailed in the title contest. The team members included: Rich Feeney, Matt Layman, Jason Leewe, Jim Moloney, Amelia Nicoletti and Spencer Oliver.
Each of the winning teams had the opportunity to keep their respective trophy for one day before the trophies were placed into the SW trophy case which is located in the hallway outside the gymnasium. A plaque featuring the names of the winning team members from both divisions will be placed in trophy case at a later date.
Class of 2011 Advisor Kevin Mann helped organize the event and served as the lead official for the games. He noted that proceeds from the event will benefit the Class of 2011.
“This is their first fundraiser for their eighth grade trip,” Mann said.
Money raised from the evening’s admission fees – as well as from a bake sale that featured brownies, cookies and other delicious treats – will be saved for that class trip, which is tentatively scheduled for June 2007.
Mann noted that the school has hosted a few dodgeball tournaments over the past couple of years.
“The kids really seem to enjoy it,” he said of Tuesday night’s event.