The Laurier Brantford extramural dodgeball team took part in their first tournament of the year on October 26. They hoped to dodge, dip, duck, dive, and dodge their way to a championship.

The team took part in four round robin games during the tournament and came out with a respectable 2-2 record. The Hawks started out the day with a game against the home squad from Lakeshore Humber. They were able to go toe-to-toe with Humber, but unfortunately fell just short of a win losing 4 matches to 3.

In game two, the Hawks took on a team from Boreal College. It was here that Laurier Brantford got to really show what they were made of. The team was able to shutout a weaker Boreal team, winning the match 5-0.

In game three, Laurier was pinned up against another strong Humber team, this team from the North campus. Unfortunately, a tired Golden Hawks team, having hit the court immediately following their game two win over Boreal, lost 6-2. The loss stung even more since they had beaten North Humber last year.

“We played North Humber campus directly after our games versus Boreal. It was hard because we ran out of steam from the games before we lost 6 games to 2 games. We were severely disappointed since we beat them in our tournament last year,” says Laurier’s co-captain Tim Miller.

In their final round robin game, Laurier Brantford really showed their dominance against a second Boreal team.  The Hawks laid out a beating, winning the match with ease, 10 games to 2. This win propelled the team into the semi-finals.

The Hawks unfortunately, ended up losing the game to their rivals from Lakeshore Humber, a team that the Hawks came so close to beating in the round robin.

The Humber teams were clearly both very strong and very serious. However, Laurier Brantford left the tournament feeling good about their results and co-captain Michelle Anger believes that with a bit more practice they could really get to the same level as the Humber squads.

“The Humber teams had coaches and were very serious, they had knee pads and had certain plays that they did in the games. However we have a very strong team and contended with them in the game. I believe if we keep practicing and working hard that we can beat them,” says Anger.

One of the biggest surprises for the team during the tournament was the great play of Oliver Moyse, who joined the team as a replacement. Co-captains Miller and Anger were very impressed by the skill that Oliver brought to the team.

“Oliver Moyse played great throughout the tournament. He originally was not supposed to come with us, but as one of our players could not make it, we invited him for the day. He played well and learned very quickly all of the rules,” says Anger.

Miller was also pleased with the play of Moyse and his co-captain.

“I believe that our MVP’s of the tournament were Oliver Moyse who was a new addition to our team as well as the veteran Michelle Anger who many times was our last player standing,” says Miller.

The team’s next tournament is on November 9 at Redeemer College where they hope to improve on a very strong opening to the dodgeball season.