KAPA‘A — There is a wait list for teams, but spectators are welcome to watch the fast-paced action when the doors to the 4th Annual Fun in Fellowship Dodgeball Tournament open today. Sybil Nishioka, the FIF tournament co-chair, said last
KAPA‘A — There is a wait list for teams, but spectators are welcome to watch the fast-paced action when the doors to the 4th Annual Fun in Fellowship Dodgeball Tournament open today.
Sybil Nishioka, the FIF tournament co-chair, said last year the tournament maxed out with 30 teams. This year, organizers added another hour to allow for 36 teams.
“We’ve hit that mark and have a growing waitlist,” Nishioka said in an e-mail. “We are trying to see what we can do to squeeze in a few more.”
Nishioka said this year, there are several teams from Waimea, and a good showing from the North Shore.
To accomodate spectators, Nishioka said there will be bouncers for the kids, a food booth, shave ice, face painting and more in addition to the dodgeball action taking place inside the All Saints Gym.
Keiki Division, or teams 8 and Under and 10 and Under will start play from 8:30 a.m. followed by the Youth and Masters Divisions taking the floor at 11 a.m.
“It’s pretty fun,” said Mason Tabura, a three-year veteran of the Kapa‘a Vipers, a 10 and Under team.
Tabura and team captain Reis Nakamura, another three-year veteran, had the problem of trying to see which of their six team players would be sitting out the various games.
Keiki Division rules call for three-minute games with four from each team on the floor for a game.
At the referee’s whistle, team players run to the balls on the right half of the center line (four for keiki division). Players are not allowed to throw the ball at their opponents until it goes behind the marked play line.
The objective of the game is to eliminate all opposing players by getting them out, done by hitting an opposing player with a live thrown ball below the shoulders, or catching a live ball thrown by an opponent before it touches.
At the end of the time limit, three minutes for Keiki Division, five minutes for Youth and Masters, the team to eliminate all opposing players will be declared a winner. In the event that neither team has been eliminated at the end of the time frame, the team with the greater number of players remaining will be declared the winner. In the event of a tie, a one-minute sudden-death overtime will be played to determine a winner.
New to this year’s tournament is the allowing of kamikaze, or suicide plays. This is when a player takes a giant leap over the center line to get closer to an opponent before throwing the ball. The thrower will be called out once he lands on the other side of the center line, but that is the risk taken in hopes of getting his opponent out before landing.
“You have to get photos of the Jump Shots,” said Alanna Bauman, a youth volunteer who opted not to play this year. “Especially, when the older players do it.”
Bauman and Haylei Sheldon, both teammates of the KSC-Blazing Angels soccer team, decided they would sit out this year “because the balls hurt when you get hit.”
Instead, the girls were volunteering putting the programs together during the final practice before the Saturday tournament, but in retrospect, said they should’ve put together a Blazing Angels team based on the soccer team’s undefeated record.
“School starts tomorrow, so we can’t practice. We need to decide now who is going to sit out which games,” Tabura said.
There is no admission charge to view the fast-paced, exciting games, and the action goes non-stop as teams work through the short time games.
“This tournament is just another way that we hope to show the love of God in this community, and especially here at All Saints,” said Father Ben Nelson, Rector at the All Saints’ Episcopal Church.
The tournament is made possible through a grant from the Sloggett Trust Fund, and the support of community businesses, organizations and numerous volunteers.
Visit us online for video of the kids practicing for today’s Dodgeball Tournament.
