The beat of music fills the gym. Foam balls fly across the room. Smiles glow on faces. It’s DECA Dodgeball. 

On Oct. 20, DECA held a dodgeball tournament for the entire school and it brought many students together. According to DECA president, senior Aidan Colby, this was organized by key members of the club and raised money for DECA.

“Coach [Steve] Cross put all of the registration fees together and me and the officers promoted and got everyone to sign up,” Colby said. “The money goes towards funding DECA at our school.”

For Colby, the event was, in his eyes, a success. The tournament was fun and created a memorable experience for those who had participated in the competition. 

“I participated and the atmosphere was very lively. Everyone was having a really good time with some good music,” Colby said. “It was the most successful it’s ever been”

DECA Dodgeball is not the only type of tournament the club has hosted, according to the club sponsor Coach Steve Cross. This competition has been put off in the previous years due to COVID, but this year they are getting back into the swing of things.

“We’ve done volleyball, dodgeball, bowling and different events. We kind of mix it up but dodgeball was long-running but because of COVID we had to stop, but now we are getting back into it,” Coach Cross said.

There were two competitions: traditional dodgeball and a uniform contest. “The Step Bros” won the traditional game and “The Average Joes” won the uniform contest by dressing like the elderly.

According to junior Jeff Fearnley who was a part of the champion team, The Step Bros, this tournament was energetic and had a competitive atmosphere to it. 

“Overall, it was very energetic and our team was pumped up,” Fearnley said. “It was definitely competitive, there was a lot of trash talk the entire night, we came here to win.”

However, The Step Bros had an edge against some of the teams. Most of the players on the team were baseball players, so preparation was not necessary, they knew what they were doing.

“We didn’t need to prepare, we all had years of baseball experience under our belt so that was our training,” Fearnley said. 

The team achieved victory in the final game by clearing out the best players on the opposing team, Dalton Jay’s Fan Page, to secure a quick and easy win.

“We played Dalton Jay’s Fan Page in the championship game and knocked them out early by getting their star players quick,” Fearnley said.

However for The Step Bros, it was more than a gift card, it was preseason bonding for the boys baseball team that will be starting up in the spring.

“The gift card was great and so were the bragging rights, but it was mainly high school team bonding since we were all baseball players and played for the school,” Fearnley said.