Dodgeball tournament raises money for Movember campaign
In what has been a month chock-full of different Movember events and campaigns, one of the last to take centre stage was the “Dodge for Balls” dodgeball tournament hosted by a group from HROB*3100, who were tasked with designing a fundraiser for Movember.
The tournament featured eight teams and was hosted in the Field House on Saturday, Nov. 23. The round robin tournament featured prizes for the winner of the tournament, which ended up being the Cleveland Steamers, and for the team with the best spirit, which was the team that yours truly captained, Occupy Ball Street.
“The project was to organize a fundraiser…to reach our goal of $1000,” said Catrina Atwater, one of the event organizers. “So far, we have made around $1500.”
The money raised at time of press release was prior to the fundraising money that came from Bobby O’Briens Irish Pub in downtown Guelph, who hosted all you can eat wings for $11.99 and donated $5 from every order to the cause.
The event ran from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. and this reporter can be the first to attest to the unexpectedly grueling nature of tournament dodgeball.
“Out group picked dodgeball because we thought that a lot of people would have fun playing. It is a competitive but fun sport, this way we could encourage team spirit and we knew that we would get a successful turnout, which we did,” added Atwater.
The atmosphere was electric, with all teams sporting that fun yet competitive nature Atwater spoke of.
Everyone was in on the cause; even the referees and organizers were equipped with fake moustaches and high spirits.
Movember began in Adelaide, Australia. The first time the world was made privy to the moustache inspired adaptation of the eleventh month was in 1999, when a group of about 80 men decided to sport moustaches throughout November in hopes of fundraising for a cause originally unknown.
As Movember grew, so too did participation, expectations and ideas. In 2003, the idea to raise money for prostate cancer was incepted by a group from Melbourne, and the event has grown ever since.
As of 2012, the Movember Foundation had 1.1 million registered moustache growers, and numbers have climbed steadily since the event began.
Now, Movember is a staple at the University of Guelph and, with events like the Dodge for Balls involving both sexes, Mo Bros and Mo Sistas all have a reason to support the cause and have fun while doing so.