Lance Renes, the varsity lacrosse head coach, needed an idea for a fundraiser for his team. Something that could get the community involved. Meeting with parents of the team, they came together with the idea of a dodgeball tournament to raise funds.
This fundraiser is the first of its kind at Wando.
“This is the first fundraiser where we’ve had some sort of event that people who are not involved with Wando lacrosse can participate,” Renes said.
In the past, Renes and his team used to do a similar fundraiser, a 100 minute lacrosse game called the Lax-A-Thon. However, Renes said it became stale over the years. That has
led him to ponder other fundraisers such as this year’s dodgeball tournament.
“We’re bringing something that is fun and can bring students together to ultimately be a part of the school spirit here at Wando and the culture,” Renes said.
With the money earned from this fundraiser, Renes and his team plan on paying for a charter bus and the entrance fee for a prestigious lacrosse event in Charlotte, North Carolina over spring break. This event is called the Hero’s Bowl, for each team represents a section of first responders in their community.
“We are going to play a team from Charlotte,” Renes said. “We will be representing [the] Mount Pleasant Fire Department.”
Renes also hopes that this dodgeball fundraiser will continue in the future so that they can continue to participate in events such as the Hero’s Bowl.
“Our goal this year is to make this kind of a first run,” Renes said. “We might not be as successful in terms of our objectives and what we want to raise, but the goal is to get our foot in the door and build this event from there.”
In the first year of this fundraiser, Renes has made sure to get his players involved with raising money for the team.
“We’ve provided our players [with] the objective, the instructions, and the roles. Some will be participating as dodgeball players and others will be managing the event,” Renes said.
However, aside from monetary gain, Renes hopes that his players learn important life lessons from this fundraiser.
“This will just help them, I would just say, reinforce and practice our concept of family, teamwork, and unity,” Renes said. “That just represents the structure of our program and also the culture that makes our program fun.”
Junior Carson Mallin, was originally a bit skeptical of the idea for a dodgeball fundraiser. However, that later changed when he fully understood how such a fundraiser would impact him and his team.
“[It was] questionable at first, but the more coach explained it, the more I’m like this is a good idea,” Mallin said. “It will get people out and bring school spirit up, and it’ll help us fundraise and raise money.”
To Mallin, this fundraiser is important because it will provide him and his teammates with the necessary equipment to excel during their season. Yet, it will also allow them to
travel to events to seek a higher level of competition such as the Hero’s Bowl.
Similarly to Mallin, senior Jameson Parker Lowe also realizes the importance of fundraisers such as this one.
“It helps us raise a lot of money outside of what we raise as players,” Lowe said. “And then on top of that, we’re trying to get other funds. We normally do our Snap Raise… We’ll get donations from companies, but not like this.”
As a senior, Lowe views this fundraisers something different that they haven’t done in the past and that will pave the way for future fundraising for the program.
“It’s something that people want to participate in and it’s not really a fundraiser where you just kind of pay money. We’re playing for the chance to play against faculty at the pep rally,” Lowe said.
