Central Oregon Community College hosted numerous Stress Free Final events, organized by Student Life, during the first week of December right before finals. One of the more active events was COCC’s third annual Students vs Staff Dodgeball, which took place at the Mazama Gym on the Bend campus on Dec. 2. at 5 p.m.

One side of the court had eager COCC students, on the opposite was an excited but outnumbered college staff. Before the game began the rules were explained, but not necessarily strict, then all hell broke loose. Each side frantically raced to the center of the court, where a number of inline balls awaited, some players managed to grab a ball others did not, but were ready to catch, block, and dodge.

COCC’s President Greg Pereira shared how he felt, right before the match:

“Considering (that) I’m seeing the students warming up, I’m a little worried for my safety, but I’m going to enjoy the ride…. My goal is to hide behind someone else and try and stay in the game as long as possible. I don’t think it’s going to go well, so at a certain point, I’m just going to let the students pelt me with balls and make sure it’s a fun experience for them,” said Pereira.

Pereira’s family were also there in the stands watching, but it was unclear whether they were cheering for him or against him.

As balls flew and acrobatic dodging continued, the competitiveness on both sides was fierce but fun. It was hard to know who would win, and Jacob Swinn, assistant director of club and intramural sports, shared his thoughts on some of those moments, “A lot of times, actually, and even the times when you thought for sure one side was going to win.”

At one point in the game there were 15 students against only one staff member, in which the staff member caught the ball and the whole staff was back on the court.

Swinn continued, “It was cool that it wasn’t like a just a given in any one of the games. It was kind of up in the air and a pretty even playing field, which made it a lot more fun.” Swinn also thought that some of the staff had been training for the event in secret, due to their “Matrix-type” moves, and credited them with some outstanding plays.

Among the competitive chaos Associated Students Of Central Oregon Community College, President Talia Stockwell announced play-by-plays throughout the game and had a brief but exciting photographer role for The Broadside alongside Raymond Salinas, who provided the soundtrack as the event’s DJ. The music ranged from a variety of Eminem songs to “Eye of the Tiger”, a famous tune from “Rocky III.”

One of the notable players that stood out was Sofia Stranieri, the college’s Capital Campaign Coordinator who more than once was left on the court facing a mob of students. Stranieri also dodged a number of attempts by students. In the following rounds some of the students participated with the staff due to the uneven playing field. After five to six rounds of dogging and throwing between staff and students the game came to a close. Overall the atmosphere between the two teams was an enjoyable moment for both, most of them players from the COCC students and staff had left afterwards, but some of the staff players remained.

Staff participant Lindsay Buccafurni, assistant director of student engagement, shared her experience, “We had a really good time. I don’t know who won necessarily because we had to blend the teams a little bit to make them even, but I think we all had a great time. We played like four or five games. My shoulder’s going to be feeling it tomorrow.”

Buccafurni, also noted that the experience with her teammates was, “The best, best crew ever. No, it was fun. We had a good team. We had awesome staff that showed up, including Greg, our president….we had some really great students too.”

Pereira, also shared his thoughts on the dodgeball experience, “I feel awesome. That was a ton of fun. The students were great. They’re in much better shape than those of us who were working 10 hours prior to the game. But that’s not an excuse. They won fair and square in a lot of those games. So it was a ton of fun.”

Pereira also mentioned that he would do it again but with a little more protection, particularly a helmet and knee brace.