If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball!

Last Saturday, the international school where Randy and Jon coach basketball sponsored a huge fundraising event. The event was an authentic BDAB dodgeball tournament! All six of us YFC missionaries formed a team. We were known as "The Mechanics". One of our team mottos is as follows, "when you're serious about something funny, it's even funnier." We were quite successful in living out our motto in this particular case. Our team was complete with uniforms, plays, warm-ups, fans, and cheers. It was quite a sight. The tournament was organized in a round robin fashion, consisting of two pools of six teams. Each team would play 5 games within their pool and then be seeded for the single elimination tournament. We went out for our first game and got clobbered by 'Elder Force'. Man, it was pretty disappointing for us... especially since we had put so much into our team. And the audience definately let us have it for losing our first game to a much of middle-aged parents. Welp, after our first game we were able to adjust our strategy and really get our heads in the game. We won the next 4 games straight, taking us into the tournament with confidence and the second seed position. In the tournment we had some tough games... but managed to battle our way into the final championship game. The game just happened to be against some really great friends of ours from a small international school in the city, including the father of the family that lives in the bottom of Randy's house. These guys were by far our toughest competition! Going into the finals, we were expecting a one game match... but it turned out to be a best out of three situation.... thankfully. We lost our first game to 'Very Bueno' in a tough match. Then we switched sides, regrouped and played the next game. We were victorious in this match-up, earning the chance to continue in the tournament. The final game was crazy, and super intense. (We totally could have been in the movie next to Ben Stiller and rest of 'em.) After about 3 minutes of play, Ross Boone made an incredible throw towards their last surviving competitor. It was aimed right at his chest... he made a valiant effort to catch the ball and bring another teammate back into play... but the ball brought too much heat... bounced off his chest... and onto the ground! The Mechanics are victorious!!!! The crowd was so fired up for the entire last game and as soon as the final ball hit the ground, the fans rushed from the stands to celebrate with their team. All were invited to take part in one final cheer for the mechanics, "If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball!"