In mild heat with the threat of a rainstorm overhead, UC Irvine students attempted to break yet another world record on Tuesday of Welcome Week. In the past, UCI has broken multiple dodgeball records amongst many others, such as the world’s largest pillow fight and the world’s largest game of capture the flag. To kick off the 2016-2017 school year, UCI decided it was time to attempt one more dodgeball record — 4 quadrant dodgeball. In an hour long clash of cheering and dodgeball, the title of 4 quadrant dodgeball champion was battled out on the ARC fields. Out of the multitude of Anteaters that arrived, 4 teams emerged: Team Blue, Team Gray, Team White, and Team Yellow but only one team came out on top…
11:00 am: Hundreds of UCI students stood in a line that spanned the length from the ARC fields through Arroyo Vista housing. It turned out that the length of the line could be contributed in part to the mass majority of UCI students not arriving with printed waivers. Oops.
11:30 am: The students buzzed with anticipation as they stepped foot onto the ARC fields to find hundreds of colorful dodgeballs lined up in a plus sign shape in front of a stage. Surrounding the fields were booths of all kinds and in the center were ASUCI members passing out colored t-shirts to signify each Anteater’s team.
12:00 pm: The teams began to rally as talented UCI individuals performed on the stage while many others waited in line at booths for free Sprinkles cupcakes and Rockstars. With a free t-shirt, free cupcake, and free Rockstar, the vast majority of UCI students were already feeling pretty good about the whole breaking a world record thing.
12:30 pm: Announcements of the fast approaching world record were made and gentle reminders to not touch the dodgeballs in the center were becoming more and more frequent.
1:15 pm: A group picture was taken. Everyone about to take part in the dodgeball game huddled into a corner of the field and smiled for photographers standing on ladders. A drone flew overhead and everyone waved, zotted, and hollered. Everyone was later informed that the drone was a student’s and the crowed was gently warned that a second appearance of the drone would result in no world record breaking.
1:30 pm: Each team stood ready in their quadrant, eager to attack the surrounding three teams. The more eager athletes headed to the front, ready to risk their “lives” in the game by fighting for the balls in the middle. The countdown began and on “one” each team flew forward to start the game.
2:00pm: Rain began to fall making the entire dodgeball game feel infinitely more intense. Blades of grass started to stick to everything as mud puddles formed and the foam balls became slippery, adding another level of difficulty to the game. Accusations of cheating began to fly and the rivalry intensified as every team became positive that all of the other members on other teams were not leaving the game after being smacked in the face by dodgeballs.
2-2:30 pm: After a few minutes in each round, a ceasefire was called and all who were left in the game had to move up to a smaller designated area within their quadrant, bringing all four teams closer to each other for battle. Eventually, each team picked their top 16 to battle it out in the very center of the field, just a few feet from each other. After an intense few minutes of cheering, whistle blowing, and dodgeball playing, one winner emerged—the Gray Team.
After all the fun, everyone left with the satisfaction of a good game and new friendships formed with people on their teams. Unfortunately, not enough people came out to participate so we didn’t break the world record. Everyone kept their heads held high with a new determination to get every single Anteater on the field next year to smash another world record. See you then, Anteaters!