Dodgeball: The ideal, underrated sport

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Kyle Brennan
Kyle Brennan

Dodgeball is the quintessential sport. Think about what each man’s actions basically say to each other:

Man A: “I’m going to heave this ball at you, and I don’t think there’s anything you can do about it.”

Man B: “There is no way that you’re going to hit me with that ball.”

There, we have the basis of the most underrated sport in the world. And that underrated sport is the basis of an awesome fundraiser I’m co-hosting May 31 at Woodland Regional High School.

It’s the Valley Dodgeball Classic, and we want you to play.

The tournament is an all-day extravaganza that will benefit Beacon Hose Co. No. 1, The Susie Foundation and the WRHS Alumni Association. I’m thrilled to be involved with all three organizations, and anybody who knows me knows I love a good tournament.

Here’s the rundown of the basic information about the tournament:

         Registration is open now at www.TheSusieFoundation.org, and the deadline is May 16. A team captain can register his/her team, and the $20-per-player fee can be paid the morning of the event. Teams must have at least six players (each game is six-on-six). All rules are available in a captain’s packet online.

         Check-in begins at 8:30 a.m. the day of the event. The official welcome and orientation will be at 10 a.m., and the first games begin at 10:30 a.m. Each team is guaranteed three round-robin games before a single-elimination tournament (which ends around 5 p.m.).

         We hope to attract local high school football teams, fire departments, washed-up athletes and everyone in between. As of this writing, we have about a dozen teams committed to play in the tournament — we hope to at least double that number, so join us!

         The $20 registration fee will include free lunch by Wing It On, a free event T-shirt and donations to all three organizations.

         We will also have a 50/50 raffle and another raffle full of great prizes and gift certificates to local businesses. There will also be a pre-sale for tickets to the Beacon Hose Firemen’s Carnival (June 5-7), as well as registration for the upcoming Susie’s Kickball Classic. There will also be an after-party at a local establishment to be determined.

         The winning team will take home the Chief Roger Brennan Memorial Trophy, which is named after my late grandfather and the past chief of Beacon Hose. Gold and silver wrenches will be awarded to players on two finalist teams.

Now, sit there and tell me that this isn’t going to be an awesome day. YOU CAN’T.

You don’t need to be an all-state athlete or a gym rat to participate in our tournament. While I’m all about winning whenever winning is possible, just the participation in a day for a bunch of good causes is enough.

Some of you may remember a few years ago that I played in the dodgeball tournament sponsored by the Naugatuck Fire Department, and I got to write a column about how awesome it was. I wasn’t just blowing smoke — that was a total blast, and I really encourage you to give it a try. We don’t have enough sports tournaments for the weekend warrior types, so we’re trying to kill a whole lot of birds with a whole lot of dodgeballs.