Jumping high above expectations, The Ole Miss Trampoline Dodgeball team not only won the championship game against Auburn — they also raised the most support for the Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital.
David Harvick, captain of the Ole Miss team, said a friend started the trampoline dodgeball league in the Nashville area a year ago.
“The league decided to add a rec league to their fall season and paired up with SEYA here to raise money for Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital,” Harvick said. “To add extra competition they made it a free league and decided to go with an SEC only league. My roommate and I had played before so we decided to put in an Ole Miss team ourselves.”
By word of mouth and mutual Facebook friends, Harvick created an Ole Miss Alumni Trampoline Dodgeball Team.
“We ended up having about 16 on our roster, and other than a few, everyone attended Ole Miss,” Harvick said.
In a typical trampoline dodgeball game, you have 10-on-10 teams with eight balls placed in the middle of a large court. Keep in mind; this is consisting of several trampolines combined together. On each side, you have eight trampolines all around the walls that you can run and jump off of as well. To begin the game, both teams will charge for the balls that are placed in the middle. Once the balls have touched a fellow player, they can be thrown at the other team.
Harvick said the best part is that you are on a trampoline and you can do just about anything you want to get out of the way of the balls being thrown at you. “We would play a series of first to 8 wins or 45 minutes each night. Our team ended up undefeated and was able to win 8 games every week,” says Harvick.
“The championship game was about as intense as they can get, and so much fun!”
The “HottyToddy Dodgeball” team played Auburn in the championship game. Harvick says it came down to a few players on each side in the last game, yet they came out on top.
“After we knocked out their last player we all chanted out a Hotty Toddy that could be heard across the entire facility,” Harvick said.
The players say that their favorite part of the league wasn’t winning the championship game; it was making a difference in the lives of the children at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital. Not only did the Ole Miss team lead the league in wins this season, but they also raised the most money each week as well.
“It was a combination of our team members bringing money each week as well as our sponsors donations. Our team ended up raising over $1100 for the hospital, which was the most of any of the teams,” Harvick says.
Team members of the Hotty Toddy Dodgeball champions include:
- David Harvick
- Bret Babcock
- Ryan Smyres
- Zach Whetstone
- Martin Shepard
- Hardy Farris
- Cody Hall
- Zirk Ray
- Levei Dominguez
- Brent Storey
- Allie Denton
- Sarah Brann
- Molly Mckay
- Dena Nance
- Natalie Wood
- Mary Mathews
- Emily Fordice
Want to learn more about the Hotty Toddy Trampoline Dodgeball champions? Check out their Facebook page.
Mary Frances is a HottyToddy.com staff reporter and can be reached at mf.stephens@hottytoddy.com.
