As the annual March Madness Collegiate Basketball tournament begins, Woodside staged their own basketball tournament.
The basketball tournament, officially known as Woodside’s March Madness, began Thursday during lunch and continued through Monday. The team “Senior Thesis” defeated “Trust the Process” by the score of 14 to 11 on the final round after a heated first two days of competition. A total of five teams with five players each competed in the tournament. Many of these teams consisted of students who actually play for Woodside’s Varsity and Junior Varsity basketball teams.
“[The tournament] is a pretty good way for basketball players to come out and actually get active,” Sean Sheffield, a sophomore on Woodside’s JV Basketball team, states.
Although Sheffield did not play in the final game, his team, Trust the Process, competed in the finals of the tournament. With the exception of the semi-finals and finals, every game was played on half of the court and for seven minutes. The semi-finals and finals were a full-court game and ten minutes long.
Woodside’s March Madness is a follow up to last year’s Dodgeball Tournament. However, the basketball tournament had lackluster attendance and participation compared to the lively and popular Dodgeball Tournament. Athletic Director and Tournament Organizer Chuck Velschow entertained a few ideas for the low turnout.
“People see basketball all the time and dodgeball is something kind of unique,” Velschow comments. “Plus there is the whole March Madness thing.”
Leadership is also planning several more lunchtime events for the rest of the school year and next year.
[The tournament] is a pretty good way for basketball players to come out and actually get active.
— Sean Sheffield
Velschow declared that “lunchtime is a permanent committee in leadership, so we are looking to [host]… more fun games like Capture the Flag or something like that, things we could do on the field once it gets warmer.”
Students are excited for more lunchtime sports events too.
“I think we should do more lunchtime activities, like this, like the dodgeball tournament we had last year,” Sheffield mentions. “Leadership should definitely put up more fun activities for people to come out and play.”
