Saturday afternoon reminded me of the horrors of elementary school, the sound of rubber hitting flesh and sneakers screeching on floorboards. Saturday reminded me of the school-yard game, dodgeball. Saturday’s game of dodgeball was different from the version I nostalgically recall playing. Instead of one kid in the center being pegged by everyone around them, there were two teams, men’s lacrosse competing against a combination of the men’s cross country and tennis teams.

While the dodgeball of yesteryear required nothing more than nimbleness or good aim, the dodgeball games of today are a team effort and require some type of game plan.

Cross Country runner Phil Newell had a strategy. “Try not to get too close to the half court line and throw low,” said Newell.

Tennis player Mike Muir found the idea of a strategy laughable, “We didn’t have much of a strategy,” Muir said. “It was learning step by step.”

Some members of the lacrosse team felt they went into the game prepared. Gates “Pain Train” Benson had one thing on his mind when he stepped onto the court.

“Come out and obliterate,” said Benson. “We’re all just natural athletes. We followed the 5 D’s of Dodgeball.”

The 5 D’s of Dodgeball are “Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive and Dodge,” according to the 2004 comedy Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story.

Muir felt somewhat like an underdog in Saturday’s game. “Some teams are better at catching and dodging balls. In cross country and tennis you really don’t do either,” he said.

The lacrosse team, however, felt really good about the way they executed their strategy in the dodgeball game.

“We don’t feel like we won; we know we did. It was a massacre,” said Benson said.

His teammate Ian MacPhail felt that the reason they did so well is because the lacrosse team “works well as a team on the court and off.”

As far as who won, I really couldn’t tell you. I haven’t got the slightest idea of how dodgeball is scored.

But the game wasn’t meant to be played for a win. It was intended to be a game that would help create a greater sense of community amongst athletes.

“[The idea came from] the Student Athlete Advisory Council,” said Randy Doss, Vice President for Enrollment and Campus Life. Doss said that the goal is “to better acquaint athletes from different teams with each other and provide halftime entertainment.”

Saturday I was entertained by both the game and feelings about my own dodgeball memories. On the court, the feelings were different. Muir put it best when he said, “It was fun.