Last Wednesday evening the PE department hosted the first ever Regent’s Dodge Ball tournament where both staff and students alike took part.
Planning for the tournament began in response to their Community Partner Kate’s Project Trust’s financial needs that are at risk of being unable to continue with the fantastic grass roots work they do with the many school aged children and families that live in Pattaya’s slums.
Kate’s Project pays for the children’s school uniforms and lunch so that they are able to attend school. They also support the families with basic health care and help with finding employment.
All of the teams listen to the rules and gear themselves up for some dodge ball.
It was a fantastic evening of sport for all those involved and 28,000 baht was raised for Kate’s project in the process.
All Regent’s students, teachers and parents were invited to enter a team of 10 players into the tournament which resulted in 14 teams altogether divided into the under 13 age group and the over 13 age group. The sports hall was transformed by Mr. Martindale into a grand dodge ball stadium with three courts.
The under 13 teams fought a two hour dodge ball battle playing each other three times during the tournament. Team Trollers proved themselves to be the strongest team, outwitting their opponents and demonstrating fantastic dodging and throwing skills going on to become the U13 Dodge ball champions.
Staff took part in the fun of the games alongside students.
The over 13’s tournament, which included both students and staff, began with two pools of five playing a ‘Round Robin tournament’ and would have gone to semi finals and a final had it not been for the teams’ skill and competitive nature; the games were over quickly and we had plenty of time for more games. The competitors were hungry for more games so Mr. Rudling re-shuffled the teams into another two pools based on their Dodge Ball prowess and quickly scheduled another 10 fixtures for each pool, meaning that the teams all got to play 10 whole games each during the tournament.
There were many closely fought battles and games often went down to one v one. The spectators also had to be on their guard as the sheer aggression of the players resulted in balls pinging out of the courts towards the spectators who then got to join in the fun and dodge the escaping balls!
