Following the boys’ varsity basketball game against Temple, RUMPUS dodgeball was held in the Van Es arena. RUMPUS dodgeball is one of the most anticipated events in RUMPUS. Each house competes with its brother or sister house in a head-to-head competition with the other houses. The teams consisted of three day students and three dorm students from each brother and sister house. This year, Moser and Regester (The Dream Team) pulled through with the win, with Neville and Thornwood (TNT) coming in at second place. Summerbell and Cooper (The Jolly Dodgers) came in third place. Getting to compete on the dodgeball team is a special privilege because not only are the competitors one of the few who get to compete, but they also get to represent their house.
Moser and Regester won the dodgeball competition, beating Neville and Thornwood in the championship game. Sophomore Will Willerson gives his thoughts on why he thinks they won and what it meant to him to get to be a part of the winning team.
“It meant a lot to me to represent my house during RUMPUS, we had the two best houses, Moser and Regester, the Dream Team,” Willerson said. “It was really special, we went out there and did the best to our ability. We got a bunch of people out.”
Wilson Lucas shares what it meant for him to be able to compete on the Neville dodgeball team as a freshman.
“I felt a sense of pride representing my house out there on the court,” Lucas said. “I enjoyed getting to compete for Neville and making it to the championship.”
Having a good game plan is important when playing dodgeball, it can be detrimental to the teams’ success if they do not know what the plan is for the house. Willerson shares how Moser won the dodgeball competition, and what the team will look like going into next year.
“Next year we are going to use the same strategy, not too aggressive and not too passive,” Willerson said. “We are going to go out there and execute, get everyone out and win.”
RUMPUS brings great difficulties that each house must overcome in order to win. Lucas shares on what he learned from the loss, and what he and TNT could have done differently to succeed.
“We could have been a little bit more conservative in the beginning of each round,” Lucas said. “We should have quit trying to make things happen too early and let it all unfold. We learned our lesson, and we just have to move forward and learn from our mistakes.”