Many of us enjoyed watching the teachers terrorize a group of students in our most recent assembly, but everyone might not know the reasoning and origin of these teams. The true meaning of the Doernbechers Dodgeball game was to raise money for the children’s hospital.
The assembly only showed a taste of the true event. April 7 was the actual tournament, having 3 student teams and one teacher team. Teams came in uniforms, with fun names, and teachers all dressed in fun costumes for the matches.
The way they fundraised was through entry fees for each team. It was well worth the money, getting things like gas money and food gift cards for families in need at the children’s hospital. Not only that, but the opportunity to nail Marcus Washington with a dodgeball.
The tournament was put on by Wilsonville’s Kids Making Miracles club. This may be the first year of dodgeball, but this fundraiser has been put on since the start of this high school in 1995. Mr. Ryan–the mind behind it all, running Kids Making Miracles–tells the story.
In the past, this fundraiser did basketball or kickball against teachers, but this year they tried out dodgeball, and it was a hit. This isn’t the only fundraiser the club does during the year; they also put on their annual Holiday Bazaar, which is their biggest money maker.
Additionally, the event was very entertaining and lively for the players. The three teams were made up of a softball team and their boyfriends, the soccer team, and a football weight room crew.
Maximus Lamberson, a freshman football player, was a player on the weight room crew named the “Iron Cats.” Tells the story of how the team started,
“One morning after the weight room, we all just thought it’d be fun to create a dodgeball team after the coaches brought it up, so at the last minute we filled out the paper and came up with the name Iron Cats on the spot.”
Lamberson has a blast describing the event as being a “fun way to spend a day off with some friends. We just played some dodgeball and got lunch after, hopefully, it comes back next year.”
Kids Making Miracles is a fantastic organization that has served children’s hospitals longer than most of these readers have been alive, so next year, consider getting a group together to get revenge on your teachers in the name of charity.