Dodgeball tournament a big hit at West Forsyth
Published 12:08 am Thursday, April 6, 2023
Marc Pruitt photo One of the senior teams gets to ready for Dodgeball action.
Marc Pruitt The tournament bracket for last week's Dodgeball event at West Forsyth. The seniors' Yellow team came out victorious.
Marc Pruitt photo Members of the West Forsyth SGA pose with the Chick-fil-A cow before last week's Dodgeball tournament began.
Marc Pruitt photo A West Forsyth student winds up for his shot at pelting principal Kevin Spainhour during last week's Dodgeball game. Spainhour was spared on this throw.
Marc Pruitt photo West Forsyth Principal Kevin Spainhour taunts those he challenged to take their best shot at him.
Marc Pruitt photo DODGEBALL!!
Marc Pruitt photo
Marc Pruitt photo The Chick-fil-A cow was on hand, cheering on the games and snapping photos with staff and students
Marc Pruitt photo A group of seniors huddle together to discuss strategy.
It was the great Dodgeball legend Patches O’Houlihan who coined the phrase, “If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.”
Of course, that line is from the 2004 comedy “Dodgeball” that starred Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller, among others and coined by O’Houlihan, played by Rip Torn.
But it was the West Forsyth students and faculty that starred in last Thursday’s Dodgeball tournament in Simpson Gymnasium during fourth period.
Students paid $5 to participate or to watch the event, which took place just before school was dismissed for spring break for all students in the Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools.
There were close to 800 students who participated as either a player or a spectator.
The event was organized by the West Forsyth SGA as part of their Impact Project through the Chick-fil-A Leader Academy, a program they entered into last fall.
“We had a few meeting where we narrowed down our ideas for what we wanted to do,” said Trichelle Cross, the president of the SGA. “We ended up doing two Impact projects. One that impacted the community and this one to impact our school. We donated $2,100 to the Second Harvest Food Bank with funds from our PowderPuff football game and also donated 525 candy bags to Forest Park Elementary School to help out the community. And the money we get from our dodgeball tournament will go towards several different things here at West.”
The game raised several thousand dollars that will be put towards several different projects at West Forsyth, including paying off student lunch debt, maintaining a teacher supply closet and campus beautification. The seniors beat the sophomores to win the tournament, then dispatched the teachers. With several minutes remaining before the final bell at 3:40, Principal Kevin Spainhour told anyone who wanted to pay one dollar more they had a free shot at him as well. There were close to 100 takers.
“I think everything was amazing today,” Cross said. “I was just so proud of the turnout. It ended up being more than I could have imagined with the amount of money that was raised and the positive energy that was in the gym. I got so much great feedback and there was nothing but positivity in there. It was pretty special to see how we all came together.”
