By Daniel Chavkin and Adam Barry
Kedma, the university’s Orthodox student group held its fourth annual dodgeball tournament at the Armory on Nov. 1.
Anyone was eligible to play in the tournament, though most players were Kedma -or Hillel-affiliated, according to Shimon Epstein, the vice president of Kedma.
Sophomore communication major Rashel Maikhor, Kedma’s social chair, headed the event this year.
“The tournament is one of Kedma’s most popular social events. It gives the community a chance to bond and have a good time,” she said. “Besides, who doesn’t like a little competition?”
The format of the tournament was similar to any bracket-style tournament. Teams played in two initial seeding rounds to determine their seed for the bracket. The teams then played in a single elimination tournament, with the highest seeds playing the lowest seeds in the first round.
This year’s tournament featured 17 teams, including many first time players. Before the tournament, there was one team favored to win.
“Everyone is watching out for whatever team Nathan Lauer is on because we all know he puts up a good game,” Maikhor said.
Lauer’s team, Jackie Smash, had won the tournament for the past two years but this year, they did not make the finals.
As far as new rules for play, “we are allowing teams to have more than eight people and sub in and out the extras if they want,” Epstein said.
And what do the teams play for? “Glory and bragging rights, nothing better than that,” said Maikhor. While some teams take the tournament very seriously, others just enjoyed the social aspect of it.
“I think it’s really good to get a large group of Jews together on campus,” said senior Chani Matz, of team Dodgefathers. While Matz said that the prospect of taking down team Jackie Smash excited her, she enjoyed the unified space the tournament offered for Jewish students.
Michael Samuels, a senior playing in the tournament for the third time with team Pooper Scoopers, said that the love of the game brought him out to the tournament. “I live and breathe dodgeball,” he said. He added that connecting with other members of Jewish organizations enticed him as well.
In the final match of the night, team Kemp Millhouse fell to the Wrecking Ball, the new Kedma dodgeball champions.
