Dodging the ball
Goofy Eriksson lobs a ball.
Brian Labbe, on the Superior Septic Dodgeball team, lets one fly during the tournament, Superior Septic won.
Scott Wilkinson of the Killer K's picks up a ball and looks for a target during the superior High School Business Professionals Association Dodgeball Tournament
Goofy Eriksson snags a dodgeball at the fourth annual Superior High BPA Dodgeball Tournament Jan. 23. Fifteen teams got together to compete for dodgeball greatness and support the Superior BPA.
Nick Ianniello
Mineral Independent
The Superior High School Gym was packed with ravenous, loud cheering dodgeball fans Friday evening for the Superior High School Business Professionals Association’s Forth Annual Dodgeball Tournament and fund raiser.
“It’s gotten bigger and bigger every year. I think it’s nice because it’s something a little different,” said BPA sponsor Jamie Toivonen.
Ninety “dodgers” from around the community formed 15 teams of six to compete in the annual tournaments, and paid $10 per person to take part in the event.
“The community tends to get behind just about everything the school does,” Toivonen said.
Brian Labbe, BPA president, said that they raised more than $1,500 at the event and all of the money raised will go towards sending 12 members of BPA to a state competition in Kalispell this March where they will compete in video production, interview skills, Web site design and other business related tasks.
Toivonen said that the group has been working on their projects since October and if they do well enough at the state competition they may get an opportunity to go to the national competition in Dallas later this year.
“The kids primarily do all the work. I just facilitate and get things organized. They get all the prizes and call all of the businesses for sponsorships,” Toivonen said.
Teams of all different ages and ability levels competed for first, second and third place prizes donated from local businesses. Each team came up with their own unique names, like a group of younger dodgeballers that called themselves the “Whippersnappers” and a group of Superior High School girls that dressed in camouflage and called themselves the “Hick Chicks.”
Some teams had sponsors like the defending champions, Superior Septic, and their competition, Four Aces Bar.
Superior Principal Allan Labbe officiated for the tournament which was held in double elimination format. Balls were placed in a line at the center of the gym and on Labbe’s signal teams raced for the balls and started throwing.
Balls had to hit competitors without bouncing and if a ball was caught, the thrower was removed from the game and a competitor from the catcher’s team was brought it.
Different teams tried different strategies. Five Cats and a Swan took a defensive route, allowing the other team to grab all of the dodgeballs at first and relying on their superior dodging and catching skills to get them through the early parts of the game.
A full frontal assault seemed to be the most effective tactic, as that was used by the three top teams, first place Superior Septic, second place Killer K’s and third place Four Aces Bar.
Superior Septic, team that consisted of six of this year’s State Championship Superior Bobcats Football Team, relying on some impressive catches to bring themselves back from the brink of a loss twice in the tournament with a clutch throw from Tyler Stenberg against the Slednecks and a crucial catch from Drew Walen that brought Brian Labbe back into the game to finish off the Four Aces Bar team.
Labbe also threw the final ball to hit Miles Johnson of the Killer K’s, providing a Superior Septic with an undefeated dodgeball tournament, slightly reminiscent of their championship football season.
“It’s just some good family fun out there. Win or lose I’m just out to have fun with my friends,” said Labbe.
Travis Stroot, also on the Superior Septic team, got an opportunity to face down his older brother Josh Stroot in the final match of the evening against the Killer K’s.
“It’s always good to beat out your older brother,” Stroot said. “He was talking a lot of trash before the game.”
The Hick Chicks were awarded prizes for the best costumes of the evening. All of the prizes were donated from S & S, Castles, Westgate and Strand Theatre out of Superior and Universal Athletic out of Missoula.
Shauna Labbe, Brian Labbe’s older sister and the brains behind the first dodgeball tournament was at Friday’s throw down and said she was excited to still see things going strong with BPA.
“I couldn’t be prouder. It’s fun to still see it going on,” Labbe said.
Brian Labbe joked that even though his sister has graduated from Superior High School she still wanted to be a big part of the event.
“She wanted it to be the Shauna Labbe Memorial Tournament but my dad said that since she wasn’t dead yet we’d have to wait,” Labbe laughed.
Toivonen said that the event was great fun, even for the teams that did not win any prizes at the event.
“I’ve had some parents say to me that tonight was pretty neat because their child wasn’t necessarily a great athlete but they got to come and cheer them on from the stands, watch them and support them in something,” Toivonen said.