On Thursday, April 4, a dodgeball tournament has held at 7 p.m. at the intramural basketball court in the University Center. The dodgeball tournament was a joint fundraising event between the Biomedical Engineering Society and the Mercer University Korean Student Association.
The requirements to enter the tournament were a team of six players, and a $30 entry fee or $5 per person. A portion of the money raised from the tournament is going towards Mercer on Mission in Vietnam.
Each of the teams competed in a bracket style dodgeball tournament. The winning team of the tournament was able to win a small cash prize.
According Dohyun Daniel Yoon, who was in charge of the event, the Mercer Biomedical Engineering Society was the main funding source for the dodgeball tournament. The tournament is the first time they worked alongside another group to do a fundraising event.
“This was actually the first joint fundraising event we had with other student organization, MUKSA (Mercer University Korean Student Association) for this time, to attract more people in other departments (non-engineering) to this event” said Yoon.
Yoon did mention that they would like to host more events. Mercer Biomedical Engineering Society will not be able to have any more tournaments this year however, due to how late in the semester it is.
Freshman Avery Lewis participated in the tournament as captain of the team Average Joes. “When I first heard about a dodgeball tournament, I got really excited. Dodgeball has always been incredibly fun and I was instantly looking forward to participating. Despite there only being three competing teams, I think everyone who went still had a great time,” said Lewis.
Lewis also said the tournament was “fantastic” and said that he believed everyone involved had fun. He claimed that the dodge ball tournament has led to several participants wanting to form their own intramural teams for next year’s tournament.
The dodgeball tournament is one of several events the Mercer Biomedical Engineering Society puts on each year. Other events they are involved with include having a number of engineering related guest speakers visit the university to present their research to the students as well as a field trip event to “Bodies: the Exhibition” every year.
This is the only sporting event that Mercer’s Biomedical Engineering Society hosts. They hold the tournament once a year.
According to Yoon, they had been planning it for more than a year. The actual preparations for the tournament took place about three to five months before the event. They will be holding no more tournaments this year, saying there is no more time.