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The dodgeball tournament held by Randolph-Henry High School’s (R-H) baseball program on Friday, Nov. 1, drew 150-170 people to the Central Middle School gymnasium where nine dodgeball teams competed against each other in a double-elimination format.

The tourney was designed as a fundraiser for the R-H baseball program.

“I think this event was a huge success,” Randolph-Henry Varsity Baseball Head Coach Joshua Barmoy said. “When you come into school on Monday and the kids are still talking about everything that happened Friday night at the dodgeball tournament, you know you were able to make an impact on the students’ high school experience.”

The tourney featured participants hailing from a variety of school athletic teams, academic departments and classes.

“It was awesome to see so many people who normally are not involved in a competitive sport create a team to participate in this year’s dodgeball tournament,” Barmoy said.

Offering a summary breakdown of the action on the court, he said, “With the history department, R-H staff and business department (teams) taking early exits in the tournament, the unexpected foreign language team easily took control of the winners bracket. But ultimately the transportation team worked its way out of the losers bracket to beat the foreign language team twice to take home the 2019 dodgeball tournament championship.”

He noted that members of the winning team included Matthew Harding, Colby Jordan, Carson Gibbs, Tyrik Beattie, Marshall Scott, Noah Napier and A.J. Leach.

Reflecting further on the event as a whole, Barmoy said, “Our staff did a great job. It took a full team effort to produce the electrifying atmosphere and ultimately a safe place for our students and community to come together on a Friday night. The staff sponsors did a great job of taking ownership over their teams and holding players accountable on their commitment to play.

“The hype produced throughout the halls of R-H was due to (the) effort of all involved,” he continued. “Our baseball staff really appreciates all the volunteers who helped keep the event safe, ran the ticket gate and also those who just came out to support. We also want to thank our booster club, who, on their only Friday night off, still came out to support R-H Athletics.”

The coach stated that the plan is to continue this tournament for years to come.

“We will make a few tweaks and additions to next year’s tournament,” he said. “We hope to get even more students and staff involved to make next year’s tournament even better.”