A Record Number of Students Prep for El Toro's Dodge Ball Tournament

Get ready for dodge ball madness at .

A record 85 teams have entered this year’s dodge ball tournament, the beloved and wacky school tradition in its seventh year. The tournament kicks off Wednesday when “The Elite Four” takes on the “Studmuffins” at snack time.

“It’s the big event here on campus,” said Kathryn Scheidler, El Toro's activities director. “It just creates a really fun atmosphere.”

At El Toro, winning comes with serious bragging rights. Not only does the triumphant team get trophies, their team name is added to a plaque which hangs in the school office.

Games are played before large crowds in a court painted in the lower quad, one match at snack time and three at lunch, as long as there is no rain.

Teams are made up of six players, and at least two of them must be girls. Some teams even include teachers, a few who have gotten as spirited about the competition as their students have, Scheidler said.

“Some of our teachers get quite into it,” she said. “I have to calm them down sometimes.”

One thing that makes dodge ball so fun, Scheidler said, is that it is a game that anyone can play.

“It happens every year: A team that is packed with athletes will draw against a group of small freshmen, and they’ll get upset,” Scheidler said. “It’s like the movie Dodgeball where everybody starts cheering for the underdog.”

Thinking of the wackiest team name is also part of the fun. Teams this year include “The Freudian Slips,” “The Peanut Gallery,” “The Desperate House Team,” “Caddy Shack,” “Balls to the Face,” and “Dodgeball Cancelled Today.”

Michael Berardino, a senior who was part of last year’s winning team “Toy Boat Toy Boat Toy Boat,” said his team chose that name because it would be hard for announcers to say. (He actually wrote Toy Boat ten times on the entry form, but school administrators shortened it, Berardino said.)

So what led to Toy Boat’s victory last year? While it helped that the team had some top athletes and crazy thrift store outfits, Berardino said it boiled down to one factor.

“Luck,” he said. “I gotta say, it’s luck.”

Toy Boat’s other members—Brock Becker, Katie Purcell, Colin Zavrsnick, Emily Peterson and Alissa Kasper—are all competing again this year, but on different teams, Berardino said.

Berardino and Becker will play together on “Team Rachel,” so named because Berardino has a crush on Rachel Berry, the character on the television show Glee who's played by Lea Michele.

Splitting up a championship team might have been a good idea, Scheidler said, noting that a previous championship team had everyone gunning for them and lost in the first round.

So what is it about dodge ball?

“It’s just a sense of school pride and spirit,” Berardino said. “Everyone plays friendly games. It’s just a way to tie us as a school together.”