The annual “Fais Do Do and Swamp Bowl” offers students a chance to enjoy friendly competition as final exams approach.

The event will be held on Thursday, May 2 from 3-7:30 p.m. outside the Pennington Student Activity Center.

The “Swamp Bowl” tournament will provide participants with a fun and safe environment to compete against their respective teams in mud volleyball.

“We have three mud volleyball courts right in front of our building,” shared Jason Templet, coordinator of competitive sports. “We have referees on each court, and they play a game to a certain number of points, and the winner moves on to the next round.”

Seth Thomas, director of Recreational Sports and Wellness, reviewed the recent changes that the event underwent to improve student participation.

“Last year, we had ‘Swamp Bowl,’ and we had ‘REC Fest,’” explained Thomas. “‘REC Fest’ was crawfish and games, and the ‘Swamp Bowl’ was mud volleyball. We found out housing does their ‘Fais Do Do’ at the end of the year, and they’re getting crawfish. So, we combined the events where it’s ‘Swamp Bowl’ and ‘Fais Do Do’ altogether. That way, we’d have partnership and draw more people to make it bigger and better.”

Recreational Sports and Wellness works to coordinate various aspects of the event with different departments.

“Communication is key,” said Templet. “We work with housing making sure we’re all on the same page. I also have to talk with the fire department because they have to come and fill up the pits. Another challenging aspect is making sure the students get signed up on time because sometimes they want to sign up the day of, and it’s harder to do.”

Joshua Distefano, a sophomore biological sciences major, discussed the event’s impact on students.

“It was a chill environment,” stated Distefano. “We all had fun just being able to get out as everybody was able to cut loose and get dirty. It had a really good turnout, and in fact, a couple of my friends and I are interested in forming a team again this year.”

“Swamp Bowl” aims to benefit students’ well-being and competitive mentality.

“It’s provided around exam time to de-stress and kind of hang out and have fun, and the competitive nature and physical activity helps to de-stress even more,” shared Thomas. “Students should come out, get muddy and have a good time. Even if you don’t sign up and don’t want to get muddy, you can still come watch and enjoy the atmosphere.”

Students can sign up for “Swamp Bowl” in person at the Pennington or online on the IMLeagues website.