Dodgeball Tournament Fundraiser

(photo by Brian Tiez)

NAPLES DAILY NEWS ARTICLE

By Charlie Whitehead

02.14.10



FORT MYERS — DROPping the ball is a bad thing in dodgeball.

But on Saturday on the Florida Gulf Coast University campus, DROP was the whole idea.

DROP is an acronym for the Dominican Republic Outreach Program.



Founded 10 years ago, DROP is a service group of FGCU students, two faculty members and a handful of local residents who head to Santiago in the Dominican Republic in the summer. There, they work with at-risk kids, and for them.“We try to show them that they still matter,” said Ann-Marie Navidomskis, a 21-year-old junior from Orlando who is president of DROP.



A dodgeball tournament and fundraiser Saturday drew 55 players on 10 teams in the rare Southwest Florida chill. Each was willing to pay $5 for a chance at relative glory and to boost a good cause.

“I love dodgeball,” said Stephen Caserta, a 19-year-old freshman and member of Team Doo Doo, who despite a gallant effort departed the tournament in the second round. “I’m not very competitive, but we’re raising money. I was going to play intramurals but it’s on Tuesday and I have church on Tuesday night.”

The Ninjas beat Evak to take the title. Evak pulled double-duty though. They’re also a local band that played gratis for the cause, along with Ford the forgiver.



“We’ve done benefits for them in the past,” said Casey Gartland, a 2008 FGCU graduate and energetic lead singer for Evak. He said the group, all FGCU alumni, has played benefits for Relay for Life in Estero, at FGCU and for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation in North Fort Myers.Gartland and Evak fought their way to the finals but couldn’t get past the Ninjas.



DROP member Jake Proudfoot, a 20-year-old sophomore, officiated. “I’ve read a manual or two somewhere,” he said. “I got a few complaints. It’s all in good fun, though.”



And that was hardly the point. Navidomskis described a school that the group visits in Santiago, built quite literally atop the city dump. “These people are invisible,” she said. “They don’t matter to the government down there.”The man who runs the school built it himself, Navidomskis said. Other groups have visited. “We’re the only group that’s ever gone back,” she said.



Other teams included Hippo Affair, TKO (Total Knock Out, team member and DROP vice president Liz Brewer said) and ROFL, or Rolling on the Floor Laughing.Brewer said the tourney itself raised $275, and a raffle of prizes (the drawing is Monday) raised another $1,000.



“DROP is my thing,” Navidomskis said. “My whole life revolves around it.”

PHOTOS BY BRIAN TIEZ