Raunaq Singh

By: centraljersey.com
HIGHTSTOWN – Over 170 Hightstown High School students helped to raise more than $600 for charity Jan. 6 by taking part in a dodgeball tournament.
The tournament was held in the high school’s annex, and the recipient of the money raised has yet to be determined. Organizers said they are considering Rise, the Hightstown-based community charity, or using the money to start a college scholarship fund.
The school’s inaugural dodgeball club was founded last year. At the time, about 25 students, mostly friends, signed up for the club’s first tournament. Nine months after that maiden tournament, over 130 students on 26 teams signed up for this year’s event on a designated Facebook page. Despite the large electronic interest, organizers were only expecting 80 people to show up for a double-elimination tournament. Participants paid $5 each, while spectators paid $3 a head. Teams were each made up of six students.
While they collected money and wrote participants’ names on a list, organizers soon realized they had more people than they planned for. A double-elimination format was changed to single-elimination to accommodate the size of the field.
"Everybody on our team is extremely competitive and all we had on our mind was going out and winning no matter who we faced and how many games we had to face them," said Eric Anders, a member of the Skillz that Kill team.
The team to beat proved to the be the Globo Gym Purple Cobras, a squad comprised of all seniors, and named after the team from the movie "Dodgeball." The Cobras defeated Team Mac in the final game of the night. They were awarded a $100 prize.
The event raised a total of $660 that went to charity.
Tournament organizers have already started looking future events involving rival Peddie and Robbinsville students. Encouraged by the money the Jan. 6 tournament raised, they would like to involve local businesses in the future.