 "Photo: The Olympian/John Rodriguez")
Olympic College student Nathan Perry and his teammates successfully defended the title as dodgeball champs May 19 in the Bremer Student Center Gym.
“I feel great … I wasn’t expecting to win,” Perry said after he won a one-on-one shoot out against Mason Castillon on a technicality to make his team dodgeball titleholders for the second time this year.
Perry and the other Nededog All-Stars received the first ever dodgeball trophy, a new edition to the tournament brought in by organizer David White.
“It’s the best trophy we have on campus,” said White. “And it’s for a sport that’s not really taken that seriously and that makes it that much cooler.”
The win for the Nededog All-Stars had an even deeper meaning. The team’s namesake, Duane Nededog, died Feb. 28. Nededog was a member of Perry’s All-Stars who won the dodgeball tournament just five days before Nededog died.
“I was determined to make (the dodgeball tournament) happen because of the player who died,” White said.
“I’m playing for Duane,” Mark Porras, a fellow teammate and close friend of Nededog said.
Nededog All-Stars received a pizza party immediately following the game and $25 gift cards for movie tickets.
Spencer Stark, Recreation director, said the tournament saw more teams than the previous one this year, held in February, and another packed gym. But Stark said the biggest improvement was the officiating.
“I thought it was smooth from that stand point,” Stark said.
Unlike the first tournament, the Spring Dodgeball Tournament had almost no arguments about referees’ calls.
Stark said having three additional referees made this possible, especially the addition of officials in the back.
“Having people on the back line kept people in the court,” Stark said.
White said more participation and higher attendance was in part due to better promotion, something Stark said he agreed with.
“I think it helped having the student organizers help promote this,” Stark said.
Stark also said the 8 teams who battled it out in the round-robin and single-elimination bracket were more competitive and used more strategy than he saw in the previous tournament.
“I was surprised by the level of competitiveness,” Stark said.
He said teams were talking about how to play, exploiting other teams’ weaknesses and strategically using time-outs to switch out players instead of “just hucking balls,” which Stark said made the game more fun to watch.
Camren Veach, who played for Pain Wagon, said part of his strategy was to not be too aggressive and wait for the other team to make the move. Veach’s team took second place in the first tournament, but did not place in the second.
“The other teams are really good,” Veach said. “Seeing the teams is humbling.”
Pain Wagon was among the top four teams at the end of the eight-team round-robin, which also included Nededog All-Stars, WolfPack and the Chee Hees.
Also unlike the previous tournament, there were no major upsets in the single-elimination bracket, but there were a number of matches that went into overtime and/or came down to a one-on-one shoot-out.
Ceasar Esguerra faced such a match against Veach early in the tournament and was able to pull out the win. He attributed his victory to “playing smart.”
“He’s pretty good,” Esguerra said of Veach. “I played with him throughout high school.”
It is likely OC students next year will have more opportunities to “huck” balls at their classmates, as Stark said, “Dodgeball’s going to be an institution” at OC.
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