The Story
Team DP: The Dawning of a Dyanasty
This is the story of how one dodgeball team has come to knock on destiny’s door.
A lot of bonds are forged on freshman halls. Hall sports, late nights with pizza and movies, the occasional taking care of a drunk friend, Wawa trips, and joining a common fraternity all strengthen these bonds. The story of team DP is almost that same story. The core all began on the Dupont 1st West freshman hall. This hall had the typical hall bonding activities of other halls, but there is also a slight twist. This hall gave rise to what many consider to be a dodgeball dynasty in the same vein as the basketball dynasty of Russell’s Celtics, Jordan’s Bulls and the baseball dynasty of Ruth’s Yankees.
Team DP is a co-recreational dodgeball team that just recently completed its third consecutive championship in three years of play. In winning this championship, DP finished ahead of second place winner Team Awesome and third place winner Dr. Nasty. They completed this tournament unbeaten. In fact, these three championships in three years are the only championships ever in Tribe co-recreational dodgeball. No other team has ever won this tournament.
As already noted the core all came from Dupont 1st West freshman hall, but they have had a little help from their friends over the years. Other crucial additions to the team have come from girls who also lived in Dupont and from at least one ringer that was brought in from outside the Dupont family. Hawley Smith, the senior co-captain of the Tribe Men’s Varsity Basketball team, was brought in for their second tournament defense. The addition of Smith can certainly be seen as the addition that ensured the dynasty.
When one approaches a member of DP for comment, the sense of pride they feel in this team is tangible. When I approached one member of this team to discuss the rules of the dodgeball tournament here at the college, he replied, “I mean, you could talk about the rules, but that isn’t interesting. Talk about how we are a dynasty. I think it is pretty clear we are the New England of dodgeball.”
Another member of the team, Sam Alnouri added, “They did everything they could to try to stop us from defending. They tried to Tiger-proof it like the Masters. They changed the rules, which we weren’t too happy about, but like champions do, we adapted and won. Now we are just looking forward to next year. The competition gets better and better every year, but we all want to graduate being able to say that we are the undisputed champions.”
Team DP will certainly be back next year to defend their co-recreational title and go for an unprecedented four-peat. In addition, the men of team DP will certainly be back to defend the men’s championship they also won this year in recreational Dodgeball. The gauntlet has clearly been laid down. The question that remains to be answered is if DP can cement its place as a true dynasty or whether a young upstart team will enter competition to dethrone this powerful force of dodgeball.