By: Ashley Day, Transcript correspondent
The five D’s of dodgeball — dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge — were displayed Friday at Branch Rickey Arena when Delta Zeta held a charity dodgeball tournament to raise money for the Starkey Hearing Foundation.
Seven teams competed for the championship title of DZ Dodgeball, all composed of members of various Ohio Wesleyan sororities and fraternities. Each team brought a different approach to the game, making the competition very intense, DZ philanthropy chair Elizabeth Prior, a junior, said.
Delta Zeta has held six dodgeball tournaments, but the competition among the teams became too aggressive at the event in 2013, which caused DZ Dodgeball to be shut down. In place of dodgeball, their new philanthropy event was DZ Dance-Off. This was a dance competition held in Milligan Hub, which was judged by their seniors, DZ president junior Mary Peterson said.
“Our event was well-known on campus and the competition level was very high between many of the teams,” Peterson said. “Because our philanthropy events serve to raise money for our causes, we wanted to try something a little more light and carefree, so that the focus of the event was our philanthropy.”
Although DZ Dance-Off was a success, members of the chapter did not think it built as much hype as DZ Dodgeball did in the past. With this in mind, Peterson and Prior determined and fixed the main issues of the past events and made the decision to hold a DZ Dodgeball tournament again, Peterson said.
“Delta Zeta loves dodgeball,” Peterson said. “We just needed to make sure the focus of the event was kept on our philanthropy and not just the competition.”
In its first year back, DZ Dodgeball raised approximately $550 for the Starkey Hearing Foundation. Starkey is a nonprofit organization that funds cochlear implants for those who cannot afford it. Delta Zeta-National signed a pledge to raise $5 million in five years for the organization, Prior said.
Even though they took a year off, Peterson believes this year’s event was very successful. Many organizations were unable to attend, but they were still able to make the same amount as years prior, Peterson said.
“We hope that by next year, our event will be officially reestablished as one of the biggest, most exciting events on campus,” Peterson said.