On Feb. 12, there was a bright orange and blue table with information about Sky Zone’s first ever Ultimate Dodgeball High School Challenge (UDHSC) on stage during all lunch shifts.  If interested, fear not, because UDHSC is still accepting participants for a tournament with cash prizes.

UDHSC is open to currently enrolled high school students in the Missouri/Illinois metro area and will be held on April 11, 12 and 13. The format will be three vs. three with up to four on a team (one alternate). Within a single team, every member must attend the same high school and be at least 15 years old.  The cost per team is $50.

Originally, the maximum number of teams at any given school was five, but Lafayette had so many participants interested that the registration was opened up to other teams on March 1. The deadline to register is April 4.

The winning team will be rewarded $2,500 in “college cash” to be split among the team members. Instead of a scholarship limiting students to certain schools, college cash can be used at any school they attend. Also, the school of the winning team will be rewarded $2,500 to their activities department.

Barclay Poole, Sky Zone Vice President, said, “It’s a great opportunity for our high school dodgeball participants to compete and win valuable earnings.”

There are currently six LHS teams enrolled in the tournament; one team is particularly confident. Dillon Brown and Nick Reid, seniors, and Ben Reid, sophomore, are looking to win. Nick is participating in Sky Zone’s SkyWars, a larger tournament for the general public, and his team holds second against many tough competitors.

“Most of the people aren’t experienced with trampoline dodgeball, so it should be an interesting tournament for us,” Nick said.

For those of you participating or looking to participate, there are practice nights on Mondays from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

LHS’ own Air Force Junior Reserved Officer Training Corps (AFJROTC) has three teams participating in UDHSC. However, the students participating are not doing it for themselves. The $2,500 will be split among them and the AFJROTC fund.

Shane Kelly, junior, said, “I don’t know how the other schools will be, but I think we have a good chance of making it far. So it’s going to be fun to play and if we do end up winning it’s going to a good cause.”

Sky Zone staff is looking forward to the upcoming events as well.

Chris Byers, Sky Zone St. Louis General Manager, said, “I’m excited to see this awesome sport grow.”

More information about the tournament can be found at http://www.skyzone.com/stlouis.