Eight teams faced off Thursday, Nov. 12 in a tournament of sweat, men’s health and dodgeball. The dodgeball tournament Move for Movember was hosted in Wade King Student Recreation Center as a part of Movember, a month-long campaign promoting men’s health in November. Western Intramurals, Prevention and Wellness Services, Whatcom Alliance for Health Advancement and Building Resilience and Voicing Empathy hosted the tournament. Movember hopes to promote mental and physical health of men, Western senior and Western BRAVE intern Corinne Sudduth said. Sudduth works with BRAVE and wants to promote health during Movember, and said men are more likely to commit suicide and less likely to seek support for mental health problems. “It’s harder for men to talk about mental health and seek services than women,” Sudduth said. Each organization offered resources for mental and physical health between games and promoted future events. Freshman Adam Blythe decided to play in the tournament after a group of friends recruited him, but he had not heard of Movember before, he said. The tournament helped promote students to stay healthy and get involved, Blythe said. “It’s a good time for people to embrace the positive effects of exercise,” Intramural Supervisor Tyler Hjaltalin said. Intramurals decided to host a dodgeball tournament because it appealed to a larger group of students, Hjaltalin said. “There’s a really strong following of people who love to play dodgeball,” he said. This was the first dodgeball tournament BRAVE has been involved with, but Sudduth said it was a success. Sudduth said people were drawn to the tournament because it allowed them to be physical, and it was a sport anyone could play. “It’s more accessible than other sports for people to just pick up and try,” Sudduth said. Movember will continue promoting men’s health this month at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 16 with “Cracked, Not Broken” by Kevin Hines in the Viking Union Multipurpose Room and the “Walk of Hope” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19 in the VU MPR. [gallery ids="4812,4813,4814"]
