Beam seeks new intramural dodgeball commisioner

Travis Beam, the intramural director at Bethel College, is looking for a dodgeball commissioner to organize the weekly games held on Wednesdays. Also new to this year, students of other colleges will not be allowed to attend dodgeball or any other on-campus intramural sports. In the past, Bethel allowed students from Indiana University South Bend and other colleges in the surrounding area to play dodgeball, according to Beam. At first, nearly all students involved were from Bethel. “I would definitely say it was 80 percent Bethel students, 20 percent IUSB students,” Beam said. As the weeks progressed, however, the number of students from outside of Bethel’s gates increased dramatically. The athletic administration decided to no longer allow students from other colleges to participate at intramural events because they’d seen non-Bethel students smoking and using profanity outside of the Goodman gymnasium. Some said they had smelled marijuana. According to Beam, this behavior led the athletic administration to reconsider whether they were creating a positive environment. The new rule, banning outside college students from playing, was put into effect after spring break last school year. Attendance at the games plummeted. This year Mitchell Horn, the previous dodgeball commissioner, is unable to host the games because of his schedule. That being the case, Beam is searching for another student to lead the event. “If there are people that want to contact me and are interested-sophomores or juniors are ideal,” Beam said, adding that he prefers the new commissioner to be able to hold the position for more than just one school year. Responsibilities for the dodgeball commissioner include creating a mix-tape of songs to play during warm-ups, leading the prayer before the games each week, and deciding who will win the awards for the night. Additionally, the new commissioner is expected to recruit other students to play. Beam plans to hold the first dodgeball event this Wednesday, Oct. 3.