MCT Campus

Hundreds of San Diego State students made their way to the Aztec Recreation Center on Saturday, Sept. 5, to go down in history for the largest game of dodgeball ever played 8212; at least for now.

A total of 450 participants competed in the event, which has unofficially broken the Guinness World Record of 322 people recorded in Kennesaw, Ga., last month, according to Joe Schaffer, the Intramural Sports Club supervisor at the ARC.

“It was kind of a shot in the dark,” Schaffer said, “but we made it to 450.”

Students of all ages were dressed up in ski masks and sombreros, while others dressed in sweatbands and tube socks, all while wearing their complimentary red and black T-shirts.
The record was originally set by the rock band Weezer, with 100 people last year, according to Amy Schiller, the Aztec Recreation Marketing Coordinator of the event.
Schiller and Schaffer have been in contact with the Guinness World record staff to authenticate the game, but the process is time-consuming and the record is constantly being challenged.

SDSU was the third university this month to challenge the dodgeball record, along with Kennesaw State University, as well as Gonzaga University in Washington.

Three volunteers were present to witness the game: Leisha Battles, director of operations at In Motion Inc.; Hugo Lecomte, ASI coordinator of campus at CSU San Marcos and Brandi Collato, sports director at the Copley Family YMCA.

Along with the volunteers, Schaffer and Schiller had to follow specific guidelines which included filling out a packet from the Guinness World Record’s Web site, videotaping the dodgeball match and having participants print and sign their names. The game also followed specific dodgeball game rules.

At approximately 10:30 p.m., two lines of 225 students forming two teams, the red team and black team, each stretched across the basketball courts with 225 red dodgeballs lined up in between them while 11 referees called students to “jail.”

Bursts of cheers and claps echoed throughout the gymnasium along with music mixed by DJ Skinnie.

In the end, the black team came out on top, winning the world’s largest dodgeball game.
Schiller didn’t guarantee another event from Associated Students like this again, but said she does have high hopes.

“It has a precedence,” she said. “Perhaps every fall, but definitely annually.