The gym at Lucerne Elementary Secondary School (LESS) was packed on Feb. 26 as players and spectators came out for the Ballsof Fury community dodgeball tournament.
The event was a fundraiser for the Grade 11/12 senior trip to Seattle and Silverwood for Physics Days.
The tournament was created by Richelle Johnston, a teacher at LESS, who was inspired by fellow instructors in another district.
“I have friends who teach in Kamloops who did a dodgeball tournament, and it was a huge success,” she said. “We thought we’d do it here in our community.”
Ten teams came out in total, three from Nakusp, four from the New Denver community, and three from LESS.
Before the games started, the rules were announced, which included no shots above the neck, 10 seconds to hold the ball before you have to throw it, and no going over the centre line.
Each team had its own version of a uniform, from all black clothing, to sport jerseys, to homemade t-shirts with the team’s name imprinted on it.
One of the teams from Nakusp was team Gung Ho, who wound up in second place.
“I was asked by JF Brodeur if I wanted to be on his team, and it sounded like a lot of fun,” said team member Megan Jamison. “We were talking about starting a dodgeball league, possibly somewhere between Nakusp and New Denver.”
Balls were flying as players went at it, jumping, dodging, and just enjoying themselves.
Some games took a while to end, others were over in about two minutes.
The big winners of the night was the team Ball of Duty, a team of students from LESS who went home with the winning spot.
Overall, Johnston is very pleased with the tournament.
“I’m really happy with the last minute turnout,” she said. “The spectators are awesome, lots of high energy spectators, so that’sgreat.”
The Senior trip to Seattle takes place in May.