The Lion’s Roar / Karson Sharp

On Tuesday, Mar. 8, teams consisting of sororities and fraternities met at the Pennington Student Activity Center to compete in the Greek Week dodgeball tournament. Order of Omega had originally planned to host a kickball tournament. However, due to approaching severe weather, the event was changed.

Many cheering students, dozens of hard rubber balls whizzing through the air and a few athletic teams doing their best to beat one another was the atmosphere of the Greek Week dodgeball tournament.

The game was scheduled to begin on Tuesday, Mar. 8 at 5:00 p.m., and by this time, hundreds of students had gathered. However, the participating dodgeball teams did not begin immediately. Teams began hurling dodgeballs at one another until 5:30 p.m. to perfect their catching and throwing skills before tournament play began. Then, for the first of many times, the referee’s whistle blew, and the game began. Teams were made of respected fraternity and sorority members from each pre-determined Greek Week groups, and each group could enter up to two teams to compete.

Members of the different teams raced towards the dodgeballs seeking to gain an early advantage. According to Assistant Director for the Office of Student Engagement Kyle Gallagher, the tournament was a single elimination tournament. The overall winner was a team comprised of Delta Sigma Theta, Kappa Alpha, Pi Kappa Alpha and Theta Phi Alpha members. In second and third place were both teams made by Zeta Phi Beta, Phi Mu and Theta Xi.

According to senior business management major Bradley Watson, a student who attended the game, strict guidelines were in place for the teams, and this led to some problems during the tournament. The teams had to be an even mix of males and females. Two teams were disqualified for violating this rule. 

“One team signed on a player named Mal,” said Watson. “Officials assumed this meant Mallory, but when the team began to play, they saw the mistake. The second team disqualified just didn’t have enough players.”  

The dodgeball tournament was a new event this year, replacing a normally scheduled kickball tournament. This is because the kickball tournament was threatened by inclement bad weather. Although dodgeball was not initially planned, Gallagher hailed the tournament a success. 

“The Greek Week dodgeball tournament was a new and engaging event during this year’s Greek Week,” said Gallagher. “Based off feedback from both spectators and participants, I believe that Order of Omega will make this an annual event in future Greek Weeks.”

According to Gallagher, Order of Omega hosted Greek Week and the dodgeball tournament, as well as worked to provide trained referees for the event. And whether referees were present or not, all teams played fairly. 

“Overall, there was great sportsmanship during the game, and I believe that everyone who came to the event enjoyed themselves,” said Gallagher.

For more information about Greek Week or fraternity and sorority events, visit the university’s home page.