At 6:00 PM on November 20th in the Jones Gym, the 2024 NHS Dodgeball Tournament began with a bang. The event featured seven teams made up of eight players each, with the $40 participation fee going straight to benefiting the Ronald McDonald House, alongside the $2 viewing admission fee. Various West students came to cheer their classmates on while enjoying the refreshments sold by the NHS.

The teams that participated were the Purple Kobras, Thurl Bowl, JROTC, Gentlemen’s Club, Deebs Elite, Dodgefathers, and In Dodge We Trust. All teams dressed up in matching colors and outfits, some players even sporting eye black. Each team had their own coach, some coaches came ready to go and dressed in three-piece suits.

The tournament utilized a double elimination bracket, with a losers’ bracket giving the teams with a loss another shot at reaching the finals. The games were set up in two side-by-side courts. Each game started with the balls in the middle, and each team’s players lined up on their respective sides. As the whistle blew, the war began, and it became all-out chaos. Balls flew like cannons, hitting players, as well as some unlucky fans in the Jones Gym bleachers.

The new-look Purple Kobras, the reigning champions from the 2023 showdown, found their way to an undefeated route to the championship game. This gave them the advantage over the fighting Gentlemen’s Club roster, as the Kobras would need to lose twice in a row to lose the trophy shot. A tight first game of the championship series saw the Gentlemen’s Club hand the Kobras their first loss, but it would take another strong fight to emerge victorious. The Kobras found themselves with an easy win in the second match, reclaiming their title and continuing on the legacy of the squad from last year.