The championship game for MGCI’s dodgeball intramurals took place on 10 May 2016 in the gym. 37 teams, each consisting of up to six players, signed up to play the game that many students grew up playing in school. The preliminary round began on 4 April, with sign-ups taking place the two weeks prior. Each team played two other teams during this stage of the tournament.

Teams competed in the elimination version of dodgeball, where players are eliminated once they are hit by a ball or have their throw caught by the opposing team. Four players from each team, or six if two of the players were girls, were allowed to play in each round. Players were allowed anywhere on the court, but could only throw the ball at the opposing team when they were on their half. This allowed for some strategy, such as students could cover for their teammates while they retrieved balls.

A set is when all the members of the opposing team are eliminated and a match is won when a team wins two of the three sets. The games were played half-court in the gym, with the partition down, and were refereed by Mr. Hillman and members of the Marc Garneau Athletics Association (MGAA). Two matches were played one after the other, for a total of four games per day during the lunch period. As with other intramural sports, there was always a large crowd of excited spectators.

The playoff round began on 29 April, with all teams making the playoffs. This stage of the tournament was elimination-style, cutting down the number of teams until only two remained. The teams Back to Back and 0.93 played in the finals, with Back to Back coming out victorious, winning 3 of 5 matches.

Dodgeball is this year’s most popular intramural sport so far, having the greatest number of participants. It was also popular last year, but the number of teams has increased since. Athletic convenor Hajra Arif, who organizes MGCI’s intramurals, believes that dodgeball is such a popular sport because it is “something anyone can play. You don’t have to have a specific skill.”

One problem organizers faced was that some teams did not show up for their games. This made it difficult to follow the game schedule and caused other teams, who went in expecting to play, to get upset. Hajra thinks she could solve that problem by posting game schedules so that teams will know in advance when they will be playing.

For any students who enjoyed this intramural activity or are looking to try one, MGAA will be running 3-on-3 basketball next.