Ryan Glavey
Sports Editor
Balls flying through the air as students dip, dive, and duck out of the way in the Keene State College Spaulding Gymnasium, all in an effort to support the KSC Bigs Club.
The Keene State College Bigs Club put on its third annual dodgeball tournament to raise money for the Big Brother, Big Sister Organization of Southwestern New Hampshire.
“We just want to raise as much money as possible for the bigs club,” Coppez said.
Co-President Stephan Coppez said the 14 team turnout is the largest in the tournament’s history. Coppez said the event has grown each and every year since it was first started.
“We have so many sponsors this year, and we have good prizes this year, food and a band,” Coppez said.
Coppez said a big sponsor for the event was Campus Convenience.
Campus Convenience owner Alex Kiritsy said he competed in the tournament last year, and it was a no-brainer to help out the cause.
“Last year, my friends and I all competed, we had a blast, so it just made sense,” Kiritsy said. “If I can help out, why not?”
Kiritsy said Coppez reached out to him, and keep him in the loop throughout the planning process of the event.
Kiritsy said while he was never directly involved in the Big Brother, Big Sister organization, he thinks it’s an important organization.
“I really like the idea of it, I have a few friends who came up through it through high school, and it’s really helpful,” Kiritsy said.
Kiritsy and his team won the tournament last year, and returned to compete again this year as the aptly named defending champs team.
In addition, WKNH donated time to DJ the event and the New York City-based band No Symmetry performed during the tournament’s halftime show.
KSC Bigs Club Advisor Alyssa Day said there were several gift cards, ranging from $5 to $20 donated by local businesses.
In addition to the drinks provided by Campus Convenience, Day said the Circle K organization bought pizza and donated it to the event.
Day said the annual Bigs Club dodgeball tournament is the club’s only fund-raiser of the year, and is getting bigger each year.
“We were hoping for 15 teams, but we got 14, so it was close,” Day said.
Day said the club is definitely looking to continue the event in years to come.
Another new addition to the event this year was the live performance by the New York City-based band No Symmetry.
No Symmetry bassist Alex Ponchak said KSC Bigs club Co-President Michael Woodworth had reached out to him to perform at the event as a halftime show.
Ponchak said he has been friends with Woodworth since high school, and was interested to perform at the event.
However, Ponchak said the rest of the band was slightly apprehensive to accept the invitation.
“We mainly only do local shows, so everyone else was kind of nervous to play here,” Ponchak said, “but I told them it was for a good cause.”
Ponchak said he was involved with Big Brother, Big Sister when her was in high school, and it’s something everyone should be helping out with.
Ryan Glavey can be contacted at rglavey@keene-equinox.com