The UW-Platteville dodgeball Club has over 50 members who are dipping, ducking, diving and dodging their way into area tournaments.

The club, which was formed last year, was started by a group of friends who loved to play dodgeball.

“Last fall, we had some guys from Morrow Hall 4 East wing go to Wal-Mart and purchase a couple of kick balls to use for dodgeball,” Matt Stadtmueller, sophomore mechanical engineering major and dodgeball club member, said. “Then we started playing regularly and got more people involved.”

During the spring semester, the group received approval as a club and held it’s first official meeting right before the school year ended.

“This is our first year as an official school club,” Stadtmueller said.

The dodgeball season begins at the start of the school year and continues throughout the year. Practices are held about three times a week throughout the school year.

“Practices are so much fun,” Caitlin Haberman, freshman biology major and member of the club, said. “We split everyone up into teams, and we just play games against each other. It’s
fun watching people get hit, or someone get an amazing catch that they dove for, not to mention the crazy dodging that goes on.”

“Practices are intense and a lot of fun most of the time; usually we just practice playing and get ready for the next tournament,” Ian Lehrer, sophomore general engineering major and club president, said.

So far this year, the dodgeball club has played in three different tournaments. The first one was a tournament for the National Amateur Dodgeball Association in Schaumburg, Ill.

The second tournament was for the Midwest Unconventional Sports Association in Middleton.

“In the first two tournaments our team earned first place,” Stadtmueller said. “The tournaments were extremely intense and competitive.”

On Nov. 17, the team participated in the fifth annual Turkey Shoot Tournament held by the Midwest Unconventional Sports Association in Madison.

Two teams from UW-P were sent; one of the teams took second place in its pool and third place overall. The other team took third place in its pool and just missed advancing to the semifinals.

“Win or lose, it’s fun because it’s dodgeball,” Haberman said.

Haberman participated in her first dodgeball tournament a couple weeks ago.

“It was so amazing,” Haberman said. “I didn’t know what to expect or how we compared to the other teams, but we ended up winning the tournament.”

“I love to play the game,” Stadtmueller said. “It’s not about winning or losing; we all go out there to have fun. We don’t even keep track of how many games any of teams win during our practices. We are just there to play.”

The dodgeball club holds practices on Mondays and Thursdays from 8:30 to 10 p.m. and on Saturdays from 3 to 5 p.m. Students can e-mail uwpdodgeball@gmail.com or come to one of the practices to join.