The Senior Slam

By Maya Stafford and Grace Wolpert, Head Section Editor and Business Manager

   Dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge, the five D’s of dodgeball. Every dodgeball player keeps these in mind, especially when they are participating in Acalanes' senior dodgeball. 

   The senior dodgeball tournament is a fun-filled annual event in which seniors are assigned a team and must compete against their classmates in hopes of securing a spot at the top of the bracket. Occurring between the first and fifth of December, the tournament gave seniors the opportunity to connect with their classmates.

   With any large event, one has many factors to consider when it comes to planning. Primarily, the senior class officers stressed the importance of publicity and encouraging students to join. 

   “I think the best way to get seniors to sign up is by showing pictures from last year so that seniors understand what the actual event is,” Senior Class President Stella Pacheco said. “I also think a ton of publicity was necessary with info of the event, and also just encouraging seniors to sign up with fun videos, etc., and talking to people one on one.”  

    Although the event was an overall success, the senior class officers experienced some hardships during the course of the week.

   “The hardest part was making sure teams knew when they were playing and in what gym,” Pacheco said. “It was also pretty difficult to make sure teams had all their players. Reminders over the loudspeaker before lunch were helpful, and making group chats with our teams and sending texts helped improve participation as well.” 

   Students were able to hand-make their uniforms with their teams before the tournament started. 

   “Leadership set up a tie-dyeing station for each of the team colors. We got to meet our team and bond through an art activity,” yellow team player and senior River Lockwood said. 

   The tournament consisted of two brackets, with the winners of each facing each other in the finale. This year's game was the yellow team versus the dark blue team. Each team brainstormed strategies before the game. For some teams, that was the difference between winning and losing. In the end, the yellow team won. 

   “The fastest people on our team would run up and get the balls to immediately exterminate runners on the other team,” Lockwood said. “I think that really made us thrive because the people who run up are usually the stars of the team, and getting them out was detrimental to our success.”

Students were able to spend time with new teachers and peers because the teams were crafted randomly. 

   “I think that senior dodgeball does a great job bringing people together, especially because you get paired up with people you might not talk to on a day-to-day basis,” Lockwood said.