The Delta Dodgeball tournament, hosted by members of the Delta Delta Delta sorority, was held in support of St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital and concluded with a specially requested game -- the women's bracket winners, Spider Soccer, versus the men's bracket winners, members of Kappa Alpha Order fraternity.
Spider Soccer won the game to end the tournament, which usually ends without the women versus men game. Spider Soccer wanted to play the winners of the men's bracket, Lindsey Templeton, president of Tri Delta, said. Both winning teams received sashes and trophies after the final game.
Melissa Pacheco, a member of the Richmond women's varsity soccer team, said that the Spider Soccer team had played in the tournament to support the Tri Delta's philanthropy and to start to build a relationship with the sororities on campus.
Tri Delta's national philanthropy is Children's Cancer Charities. All fundraising events hosted by Richmond's chapter of the sorority benefit St. Jude, Jennifer Adams, Tri Delta's philanthropy chairwoman, said. St. Jude is a treatment and research facility in Memphis, Tenn., that works with children dealing with cancer and other diseases at no cost to the patient, according to the hospital's website.
Templeton said she had been pleased with the turnout and enthusiasm for this year's tournament. She said that having a well-known philanthropy had encouraged participation and donation, but the draw of competition had helped as well.
The entry fees for this year's tournament raised about $900. The tournament was set up with separate brackets for women and men, with eight women's and 18 men's teams. Adams said the brackets were separate because, from year to year, the men's games tended to be more serious and aggressive.
The majority of the teams represented fraternities and sororities, Adams said, but women's varsity soccer, club ice hockey and men's club lacrosse were among the non-Greek teams.
"This is our first year doing our own [philanthropy work], but it's equally important to support other philanthropies," Thomas Johnson, president of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, said as he watched a game between his fraternity and club ice hockey.
Adams called Tri Delta's philanthropy a cause that was easy to fall in love with. The sorority has cancer patients and their families speak at its meetings at least once a semester and some Richmond Tri Delta members even make the trip to St. Jude in Tennessee each year. Within the city of Richmond, the chapter also works with St. Mary's Hospital, visiting children in the hospital during holidays.
"From the stories we hear and the people that we meet who've had such a connection with St. Jude--it's such a happy place, but you know, it's also pretty sad," Adams said. "But [dodgeball] is a really fun thing, and it's something we all remember from middle school."
Contact reporter Chrissy Wengloski at christine.wengloski@richmond.edu
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