OLDS — This Friday, Dec. 9, the Olds College of Agriculture & Technology (OCAT) will be hosting a dodgeball tournament.
Organizers anticipate it will become an annual event.
The tournament, organized since September by the college’s newly-formed Sports Management Club and held in co-operation with the college’s Gay Straight Alliance (GSA), will be held at the Frank Grisdale Hall gym.
It begins at 10 a.m. with speeches and opening ceremonies. The championship game begins at 2 p.m. A beer garden will also be held.
Organizers have also invited Alberta Sports Hall of Fame representatives to attend.
Proceeds go to the Sports Management Club.
Sports Management is one of the courses that OCAT instructor Desmond Bouteiller teaches.
He says the tournament was an idea hatched by his class of about 25 students. He’s impressed with how they came up with the idea and went about making it happen.
Bouteiller says it’s an opportunity to highlight GSA issues on campus and “bridge the gap between the LGBTQ+ community and sports.”
It’s also a way to introduce the community to the college’s Sports Management program and the Sports Management Club in particular.
“Instead of the typical lecture and all these things, we decided we were going to put on an event so that they get the hands-on experience,” Bouteiller said during an interview.
“The class themselves came up through all the steps and came up with the idea to have a dodgeball tournament.”
He said the idea to involve the GSA was spurred by the fact that a rainbow crosswalk on campus has been vandalized several times.
Fundraising for the club will be obtained via fees to enter the tournament as well as revenue from the beergarden.
Bouteiller said enthusiasm for the tournament has been inspiring.
Twelve teams from across the college are entered. École Olds students were contacted about entering as well. A 13th team is on a waiting list.
Ten companies have come on board to sponsor the event.
“We’ve partnered with the Olds College brewery. They’ve got their own specialized can that they’re doing for the event with some Olds College beer,” Bouteiller said.
A trophy has been designed as well.
All members of the class are involved in the event in one way or another. For example, committees have been formed to handle everything from marketing to after-tournament clean-up.
As part of the marketing effort, a promotional video was created.
“To be honest, this has been one of the most fun projects I’ve got to do here at the college, because it’s not just – and I keep telling them – this is a resume builder and booster," Bouteiller said.
“You go in and you don’t say ‘I did this event for a class.’ No, you put on this event and here’s the reasons (why) and all the things that you did with it, so it’s a great experience.
“And now that we’re kind of seeing it kind of come to fruition, that it’s an actual thing, the students are really showing a lot of excitement for Friday.”
