By: Jonathan Kaner
Over 150 students filled the fieldhouse for TAG and Westport Youth Commission’s annual Dodge-a-Cop event on Tuesday, Nov. 22.
Twenty-eight teams consisting of five students and one Westport police officer competed in the dodgeball tournament. The games were a best-two-out-of-three scenario in a double elimination bracket.
All proceeds went to benefit the Chris Lemone college fund. Lemone was the student outreach counselor who passed a year ago.
After approximately four hours of playing, eating, and socializing, the team of Teddy Lawrence ’17, Nikki Benjamin ’17, Gus Cardello ’17, Zack Edelman ’17 and Cayne Mandell ’17, wearing all yellow, and the team of Robert Stone ’17, Adam Feuer ’17, Max Fiore ’17, Michael Fanning ’17 and Paul Friezo ’17, wearing collared shirts, earned a berth in the championship game.
After each team won a game a piece, the championship came down to sudden death between Edelman and Feuer. In the end, the fancily dressed seniors prevailed to lift the Dodge-a-Cop 2016 trophy. “It was a relief to come home with the trophy after all these years,” Stone said.
The co-run event by TAG and the WYC has always been a success, and this year was no different. In its biggest turnout to date, Kevin Godburn, the Youth Services Program Director in Westport was more than pleased with how the event was run and the overall turnout. “It was a great team effort with TAG and the Youth Commision,” Godburn said. “Everybody had a great time.”
Dodge-a-Cop would not be able to have the success it does without the enthusiasm of the students. This enthusiasm was seen around the field house with one team wearing very short shorts and another sporting hand drawn t-shirt jerseys. “The event was exciting because it was very competitive,” TAG member Taylor Rochlin ’18 said. “It was really fun to see everyone into it.”
The main objective of Dodge-a-Cop is to create more unification with police officers and Staples students in the Westport community. “Students really do get to know cops better at events like Dodge-a-Cop,” WYC member Abi Genser ’18 said. “It builds a stronger sense of community.”
