On Saturday, Nov. 12, the first CAC-and-Rec-Sports-sponsored Floor is Lava tournament was held in the University Commons Gym. Within the gym, the floor was littered with gym mats, blankets, large carpeted blocks, and most importantly, many dodgeballs. Participants competed against each other in two groups of four, to collect the most dodgeballs before the time ran out, without touching the ground. Dodgeballs were often located in hard to reach areas, like at the back of bleachers, or perched on a basketball hoop. Approximately six teams participated in a double elimination tournament.
The idea for the event was come up with by Iris Anderson and Anna Tiezen. Tiezen is “not really sure how the event came up to begin with. It was kind of random, but I was thinking that Levi [Myers], Aidan [Stoltzfus], Iris, and I would make the best “Floor is Lava” team. I think one day Iris and I were walking past Tyler, and we told him about our idea.”
Tyler Goss called the event “wonderfully fun” and used three fire emojis in addition. “It was packed full of nostalgia and a healthy helping of competitive spirit.”
At the beginning of every game, both teams would start on the central block, before jumping off onto the nearest mat. Though every team involved was competitive throughout, most of the drama happened at this moment in the games. There were a couple false starts throughout the tournament authough teams were not punished for them. Most of the excitement came from watching the competitors dramatically leap between surfaces, and narrowly snatch dodgeballs from their opponents. The winning team received intramural t-shirts and “Sophia’s Smoothies” provided free smoothies for all participants and attendees who came to watch the activities.
While the aim of the game was not to touch the floor, competitors only received a 10 second penalty if they did so. While this still discouraged purposefully doing so, it was often not long enough to prevent people from taking otherwise impossible shortcuts.
Levi Myers said of the event, “I wasn’t sure what to expect going into the event, but I’m really glad I participated. Our team had a lot of fun strategizing the best moves on the course and just working together for a common goal. We lost a close match to get eliminated, but it was a lot of fun and I hope the event returns next year!”
Anderson was pretty pleased about how the event went. “I thought it went pretty well. We didn’t actually win, which was a bummer, but it was fun to run around and act like a kid, jumping from couch to couch in your living room again.”
