Throughout WKU there are many different clubs and activities that students can participate in. Whether it be in a club related to your major or a fraternity or sorority, students at WKU have many choices of what to participate in.

One of these clubs is the WKU Dodgeball Club, a co-ed sports club that meets three days a week for practices. Originally founded in 2006, the Dodgeball Club promotes the sport of dodgeball to the WKU community while having a competitive nature in the National Collegiate Dodgeball Association.

Outside of the WKU community, the club goes against other collegiate clubs like the University of Kentucky Dodgeball Club. Although a majority of these clubs are housed in Michigan and Ohio, there are around 40 colleges total that the WKU Dodgeball Club can compete against.

“I think my ultimate goal for our league and club is to get this sport into a NCAA recognized sport,” James Fisher, president of the WKU Dodgeball Club, said. “There has to be over 100 active club teams before the NCAA will begin to look into the sport, but the league is always expanding and has grown exponentially in the past ten years alone.”

The WKU Dodgeball Club consists of around 20  people, both male and female students. Since it is a club sport, anyone who is currently enrolled in three hours is able to participate in the club.

“I would love to see more members for the team,” James Johnson, captain of the WKU Dodgeball Club, said. “Our roster has been hurting on numbers lately. We are just not a known sport. Everyone loves playing dodgeball,  but they just don’t know we exist.”

Being a part of the National Collegiate Dodgeball Association means the WKU Dodgeball Club will be visiting Nationals this year, which will be held at UK on April 8 and 9. Due to the club not being a sanctioned sport, they have set up a GoFundMe to help cover the nationals fee and other expenses.

Though the GoFundMe is roughly halfway to its $500 goal, the club still needs more money to help cover the costs of team uniforms, apparel and other fees that come with going to nationals. Though the club has not done well at nationals in the past, Fisher said he has good faith that WKU will do great this year.

“We have some guys that deserve to go and show off their talents at nationals,” Johnson said. “These guys have given everything they got for this team, and we just need a little help to make that dream happen for them.”

Reporter Elisabeth Moore can be reached at 270-745-6288 and [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @emoore938.