Several spectators gathered in the Fieldhouse on Feb. 3 just to see an unusual sight of high schoolers scrambling around throwing neon-colored balls across the court at each other.

For most participants, the typically laid-back game of dodgeball quickly turned into an intense competition as everyone fought to be champions.

Besides the fight for first place, there’s much more to discover behind the Mavball tournament.

Mavball, a coed dodgeball tournament held at Milford High School, has been a long-lasting tradition featuring an intense competition amongst students. There are seven people per team, and many teams choose to get creative with original team names and unique  uniforms. For Mavball, it’s not only about winning the trophy, but also looking good while doing so.

Recently, Mavball has been recognized for its association with Charity Week, which is dedicated to raising money for charity through outreach, activities, events, and donations. During this year’s Charity Week, all profits from the tournament were donated to Special Days Camps, a program that uses typical camp activities to provide support, understanding and fun for those who have experienced Cancer in their family.

Senior Koryn Pennebaker has participated in Mavball since her sophomore year and said it’s a great way to have fun and bring students together.

Pennebaker was on the winning team last year and said the tournament was very competitive between teams and especially in the final match. Her advice for success in dodgeball is to,¨come into it with a plan for your team and not to rush anything while out there.¨

Many successful teams in this tournament have realized that in order to win matches, there has to be some sort of strategy behind how the team plays.

Simply dodging won’t get you too far. Since the balls were made of foam, it took some practice to figure out how to throw them with the right amount of force.

Senior Harvey Freed, a three-year varsity baseball player,, watched  last year and decided to give it a try for his senior year. Freed’s team, White Lightning, was successful, fighting its way to the championship match.

The team‘s strategy was to, “stay towards the back and in a corner to be a harder target and to pay attention to how the balls move when thrown.”

Freed believes that baseball and softball players tend to have an advantage in throwing the dodgeballs due to the precise throws required for their sports.

Many teams put up tough battles, but were knocked out. However, everyone who participated seemed to have fun with the competition.

Pennebaker’s team was eliminated early, but that didn’t stop her from enjoying it as she says, “Although my team lost early, it was still a great experience for my senior year with many people I might not get to see after this year.”

After many upsets and competitive bracket play, “White Lightning” and “Hard Targets” made it to the championship match. Many eliminated teams and spectators stayed to watch the end of the tournament.

The final match was intense, but in the end, the Hard Targets came out victorious and won the Mavball tournament. Junior Tyler Knapp was a winning member and was awarded a T-shirt.

“I wanted to join a team this year because I did it last year and even though we didn’t make it very far it was still a lot of fun,” said Knapp.

According to Knapp, the strategy it took to win this year was to “target specific players that we knew could hurt us later, and try to get them out first.”

Mavball is a unique experience of a competitive, yet fun tournament for all Milford students to partake in, and the best part about it was that all the profits went to the Special Days Camp to kickstart Charity Week!