Lights dimmed with ubiquitous neon colors, and as the matches began, it was clear that this year’s glow-in-the-dark volleyball was a hit with students at Edmond Memorial High School. Over 10 teams purchased tickets to participate in the event, with many more spectators attending as well. All money raised by this event was for this year’s Swine Week recipient, The Comeback Kids Society.
This event took place in the east gym, where the lights were shut off and black lights on the ground brought the space to life. It created an amazing atmosphere to both play and enjoy volleyball matches. Through the darkness, the neon colors that everyone wore stuck out and brought the atmosphere together. Joey Gottshall, an active student council member, came up with the idea for the event. Originally, it was going to be sand volleyball, but there were complications with the event locations.
“Instead of just canceling the event, I had the idea of running a glow-in-the-dark volleyball event at the school,” Gottshall said. “I’m grateful for each and every one of those teams [that showed up].”
EMHS frequently organizes events like this for charity. The majority of the events have a great turnout, like this one. The team captain for “The Rizzlers” was Hayden Hamilton. In the end, this is the team that won. Hamilton has been playing volleyball for many years, and she is currently on the EMHS volleyball team.
“I think we did so well because we all worked together and just tried our hardest, and no matter what, we stuck together,” Hamilton said.
It takes a long time to create a good team, but one can sometimes be created in a short amount of time. Sarah Marking was another one of the members who played for the team that won.
“I had been wanting to do it with some other girls for a while, but [the team] was not really created until a week before,” Marking said.
The event used two glow-in-the-dark volleyballs, but one of them lodged in the rafters. They had to improvise and wrap the neon tape around another volleyball that they had to finish the matches.
This is not a one-time event; more like this are coming in the future. There are also possible plans for other sports to be implemented into the glow-in-the-dark theme, including basketball and pickleball. Events like this will happen in the future, Hog Jog and the Swine Week carnival are some of the other events that are going to happen this year. They are fun events to increase school spirit and have fun with friends. At the Swine Week carnival, clubs and sports give out prizes at booths that they made.
This was the first time that glow-in-the-dark volleyball was held at the school. Overall, the event had a great turnout that was seen by many. School events like this bring people together and create a better school environment for all of the students who attend.
Contact Wes Matlock at [email protected]
