Dodgeball game collects money for kids around the world

It was down to three students on each team, cream versus crimson, fighting to be the winner of IU’s largest game of dodgeball ever. 

They had each come a long way, beating out nearly 700 other people during the fund raising event organized by the Samaritan’s Feet chapter at IU and Btownmenus.

The game began with students covering the entire field at IU’s Memorial Stadium, and after about 45 minutes of play, it consisted of a small rectangle in the middle of the stadium.

Members of Samaritan’s Feet stood amongst the crowd of students watching the final round. During the game, the volunteers spread through the crowd to make sure participants followed the rules.

“We had to do some enforcement,” said sophomore Emily Steele, a member of Samaritan’s Feet. “There’s only a certain number of us, like 20. But I got my whistle, so it’s all good.”

In the end, freshman Ross Burns from the white team took home the champion title and a free T-shirt.

“It feels awesome,” he said. “I wanted to come out and set a world record and have fun with some friends.”

Many students attended the game for the same reason as Burns: to help set a Guinness World Record for the largest game of dodgeball. The goal was to have 2,000 participants, 800 more than the current record set by the University of Alberta
in Canada.

“Obviously, our goal was to break the world record,” said senior Broderick Thompson, co-president and co-founder of Samaritan’s Feet at IU. “But our main goal was to help as many kids as possible.”

He said the kids that benefit don’t care if a world record was broken, so it wasn’t a loss.

Samaritan’s Feet is a non-profit organization that gives shoes to children around the world who do not have any. And Thompson said the group will continue to try to break the record.

“We definitely want to attempt it again and possibly other world records,” he said.

While the record remained intact, the organization raised about $700 for their cause.

“It costs $5 per pair of shoes,” said sophomore Katrina Gerlach, co-president and co-founder of Samaritan’s Feet at IU. “Due to inflation, shortly it will be $10 to buy, ship and distribute each pair.”

Samaritan’s Feet buys athletic shoes in bulk and at cost from different companies, such as Walmart, which makes them cheaper to buy, Gerlach said.

“It’s likely the only pair of tennis shoes people overseas or new pair of shoes people here will ever own,” she said. “If they can last longer, the better it is. We want them to feel like they’re getting the best there is.”