Battle of the Dorms: The New School Olympics

The New School’s Office of Recreation and Intramural Sports held the school’s 4th Annual Olympics this past Sunday at Chelsea’s Pier 62.

Students went head-to-head in sports like soccer, basketball, dodgeball, volleyball, tug of war, and the three-legged race. There were also mentally challenging events like Taboo, Trivial Pursuit and Name that Tune. A team represented each dorm and one team was made up of students who commute.

Organizers planned for six teams, and due to a lack of participants from William’s Street, Stuyvesant had to split to create two teams. Some teams were as small as four, while others held a roster of ten.

Diane Yee, the event coordinator and director of Recreation and Intramural Sports at The New School, spoke of the difficulties the Olympics faced.

“Originally the event was supposed to be held on November 10 and then we had a hurricane, and then it was supposed to be February 9, and then we had the blizzard, so this is actually our third date,” she said. “I think that might have played a role in the lower numbers of participants.”

She said that ideally, in future year, the event will be held sometime in October so that it will work as a bonding experience especially with the freshman dorms.

Though The New School is not widely known for its sports teams, this did not stop the athletes from going all out. Nicolas Galvan, a jazz BAFA sophomore representing the 20th Street dorm, injured his ankle while in the middle of the soccer game.

“I was being a beast running up and down the court. I was dodging and kicking and I played valiantly, but the floor won out on this one,” Galvan stated. However, this did not keep him from continuing to play for his team, which only had three other members. He said that having a “dead, limber leg” actually played to his team’s advantage during the three-legged race, which they won.

“I’m not looking forward to having to carry my saxophone to class while being injured,” stated Galvan. “But it was worth it,” he added.

The scores were neck in neck going into the final rounds, with three teams all having seven wins. The overall victory went to Stuy, whose flag design pushed them to victory. There were seven judges and four voted for Stuy’s flag as the winner.

“The commuters also had seven wins, and they had a really good flag as well, so that was a really close competition,” said Yee, who was also one of the judges. The 13th Street dorm, which were twice reigning champions coming into the competition, were the other team with seven wins.

“13th Street was our biggest competition, at least in the last round,” said Simone Sullivan, a freshman member of the Stuy team. “In ‘Name That Tune’, they almost had it, they almost beat us.”

Freddie Henderson, a Lang Freshman from Stuy, was more than excited to see his team win, “I mean look at the size of this cup! I just love coming home with this giant trophy at the end of the day.”[soundslides width=”620″ height =”533″ id=”4191”]