Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif. -- Nearly 20 teams were out in force to duck, dip, dive and dodge at the East Gym to kick off the first night of the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Dodgeball Tournament Nov. 14.
The bi-annual event began with double eliminations, pitting teams of four players against each other with four balls in four-minute best-of-five matches. The audience, which was composed of both spectators and fellow competitors, were often heard gasping or sympathizing with well-placed, audible hits throughout the night.
“This tournament is a little different from the last one we held in March,” said Randy Husted, referee and coordinator with Marine Corps Community Services Sports. “This year we have four players on the court for each team instead of six, which allows more room for the players to maneuver during the games on the 30 by 60 foot court.”
“Dodgeball has been a great hit on the base,” said Husted. “We’ve actually had more and more units playing dodgeball during morning [physical training sessions] since our first dodgeball tournament in March.”
The players came from different units throughout the base, with a majority of teams from the Marine Corps Communication-Electronics School.
“I actually didn’t even know it existed,” said Drew Jenkins of Combat Logistics Battalion 7 Supply team. “I found out the other night when we tried to whip a team together at the last minute. I really enjoy this and will do it next time, because you get a good sweat doing it.”
“I thought I might be good at it since I have a good throwing arm,” said Jenkins. “This really gave me an opportunity to set an example and play ball and have good clean fun while staying out of trouble. But you have to watch out for the guys with long arms.”
The tournament, which played its final games Wednesday night, was only the second of its kind held aboard the Combat Center.
“MCCS Sports would like to continue providing dodgeball tournaments on a bi-annual basis,” said Husted. “This event has been very successful and our Marines enjoy the fast and furious action of dodgeball. Having two tournaments per year allows most of the units to participate in at least one of them even if they are facing deployments.”
“Next year, we are looking at providing a separate tournament for women or a coed tournament with two women and two men on each team,” said Husted.
Final tournament results will be in next week’s issue of the Observation Post.