Since the summer release of the film “Dodgeball,” the sport has been on the minds of many.
Some may reminisce about elementary school days in gym class, but others are thinking of dodgeball, the actual sport.
UW-Eau Claire now is home to the sport.
| “I didn’t know it would be that big of a deal. Everyone is into it.” –John Harrigan Dodgeball club president |
This is the first season intramural dodgeball is being offered at the university, student supervisor and program manager Jon Bollinger said.
He said since the first week of school, students have shown a great amount of interest in it.
“We thought we would give it a try,” Bollinger said.
The intramural sport has both a men’s and a women’s league. The season will last for five weeks, and games will be held in the evening, he said.
Registration started this week in the recreation office in Hilltop. The men’s league already is full, leaving Bollinger looking for a way to make more slots available so more men can join.
The fee to join is $21 per team, or $1 per individual.
For freshman Lisa Schumaker, “Dodgeball” sparked her initial interest in the sport. She started to think about playing it when she saw signs and flyers around campus.
“It seems fun, and it is something new,” she said.
Schumaker said many of her friends and her roommates were thinking about signing up.
They aren’t the only students considering an organized dodgeball game.
Sophomore John Harrigan is in the midst of introducing a new year-round dodgeball sports club to students. Harrigan got in touch with University Recreation to get the ball rolling.
“I went through all channels of the recreation center,” he said.
Harrigan transferred from UW-Milwaukee, where he said dodgeball was one of the options for club sports.
To get dodgeball to count as a club sport, Harrigan had to stand before Student Senate to go through rules and regulations, he said.
They still are ironing out all the details, Harrigan said. A general meeting for students interested in signing up is scheduled for Nov. 19. The time will be anounced at a later date.
The meeting will help the club decide if it should be a co-ed league. Harrigan said he does not want to turn anyone away.
Harrigan said he wants the club to be an official amateur dodgeball team as well as a club sport.
The National Amateur Dodgeball Association decides if it wants to certify a club. If Eau Claire’s sports club is certified, it will provide official dodgeballs and T-shirts, as well as have online postings, and touranments, he said.
“I didn’t know it would be that big of deal,” Harrigan said. “Everyone is into it.”
