With finals week looming, stressed-out college kids can seek catharsis in pegging one another with balls during an inaugural dodgeball tournament on campus.
The first annual campus dodgeball tournament, hosted by UF Housing, will take place today from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Broward basketball courts. A free barbecue during the event will start at about 5 p.m., said Anthony Temeliescu, a resident assistant in Broward Hall who created the tournament.
The event is free for any UF students, and the winning team will receive a prize. Participants can enter individually or as a group with eight to 10 people per team, according to the event website.
“It kind of brought me back to my days in summer camp,” the UF industrial and systems engineering sophomore said. “Dodgeball is kind of like a friendly sport that brings a lot of people together.”
Temeliescu, 20, said he worked with residence hall area coordinators, the Student Advisory Board, RecSports and the Inter-Residence Hall Association to coordinate the event. So far, about 60 people have registered, but he said he expects about 100 to attend.
Lauren Gutierrez, a UF family, youth and community sciences freshman, said the event caught her attention because she used to play in dodgeball tournaments in high school. She said she used Facebook to find a group to register with.
“Since it’s easy for everyone to play, it’s very inclusive but at the same time it’s just a lot of fun,” the 19-year-old said.