It’s Time To Separate The Wheat From The Chaff…

Are you and your mates/colleagues/associates good at dodging wrenches and traffic?

If you answered ‘yes’ to both of the above questions, Isle Listen might just have the perfect team-bonding exercise for you.

The Castletown-based mental health charity is organising what is believed to be the Isle of Man’s inaugural dodgeball championship later this year.

For those of you uneducated in the ways in sporting greats Patches O’Houlihan and Peter La Fleur and their team of misfits from Average Joe’s, dodgeball is a team sport in which players on two opposing teams try to throw balls and hit their opponents while avoiding being hit themselves.

May 16’s championship at the NSC is being organised by island mental health charity in conjunction with the team at Active Souls. The later group organises ‘old school playground games and activities’ for children and adults with dodgeball sessions one of the games they arrange.

The event, which is sponsored by Flutter International, falls on the Friday of Mental Health Awareness Week, for which this year’s theme is ‘Community’.

A spokesperson for the Castletown-based charity said: ‘What better way to celebrate community and enjoy the benefits our fantastic community brings, than by entering into some friendly competition.

‘We are seeking teams of six to nine players to enter, and your club or workplace can enter as many teams at they like.

‘The championship will see the Isle of Man’s most competitive corporate and community teams battle it out in a fierce and fast-paced round-robin tournament at the home of the island’s sporting excellence, the National Sports Centre in Douglas.

‘Perhaps your sales team has always wanted to play your marketing team, or finance has always wanted to play against IT? Perhaps you didn’t beat that netball team on the court last weekend but you can settle the score in dodgeball?

‘At Isle Listen we rely on charitable fundraising including sporting events, to bring in much-needed funds so that we can continue supporting the mental health of our island’s children and young people, at no cost to them or their families.

‘By holding a fun but competitive championship, we hope that we can unify our island community through an afternoon of endless laughter and fun.’

Taking place between 1 and 6pm the tournament costs £265 per team.

Remember if you’re going to become true dodgeballers, then you’ve got to learn the five d’s of dodgeball: dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge.

Entries for both community and corporate teams can be made online at https://www.islelisten.im/dodgeball/

All proceeds from team registrations go to Isle Listen.