Best foot forward: kickball tournament is a home run
Big Rubber Balls. Butterballs. No Big Teal. These were just some of the 14 teams that competed in last Sunday's first annual kickball tournament to benefit Prevent Child Abuse America, an organization that builds awareness and education about "the abuse and neglect of our nation's children," according to its website.
"It was a lot of fun," Big Rubber Balls' Max Goldstein '13 said. "It was nice to help out a charity, and it really was a good time had by all."
"It was a well-attended, fun event," added Jeetayu Biswas '13. "It was great getting to play kickball because it's a lot of fun, but it is not an intramural sport [at Brandeis]."
The event was run by Brandeis' Sigma Delta Tau chapter and sponsored by the Greek Awareness Council. Krista Giuntoli '14, who organized the tournament, said that they raised more than $200 for PCAA and that more contributions were still coming in.
"It went great," Giuntoli said. "It was the first one we ever did. It's exciting because we didn't really have expectations going in because we'd never done it before. Now, we're going to try to do it every year."
The tournament was won by the team Safety First, Then Teamwork, Then FIFA, who defeated Butterballs by a 10-3 score in the finals. A fake Olympic ceremony was held for the victors, who were given plastic Olympic medals.
Giuntoli said that while Brandeis always has been quite strong philanthropically, child abuse is something that hasn't received as much attention.
"It's a national charity, and they do a lot of educational programs for families," she said. "People are always doing things on campus for all of these causes, but six million children were abused in America last year, and I feel like this is just one of those underground causes that deserves more attention."
With nearly 200 individuals competing, the tournament was certainly a big step in that direction.
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