Taking on water is a team’s principal worry when play ing Pool Battleship, a growing intramural sport.
Three to four people com prise a Pool Battleship team and each team must have a minimum of two people in its boat, a canoe, at all times. The object of the game is to sink all opposing boats in or der to be the last boat floating in Carmichael Gymnasium’s 25-yard pool.
“The whole purpose is to use buckets to fill up op posing player’s canoes until they sink,” said Jay Fogg, a program assistant for intra mural sports.
There are five rounds to a competition, each requiring six teams to participate, and the final boat afloat advances to the championship round.
In Pool Battleship, teams are not allowed to use paddles to maneuver around the pool. Each participant is only al lowed the use of one item, and team members may only use their items along with their hands to move around.
The battle area increases and decreases as each new battle takes place, so teams must be able to figure out how to get from one side of the pool to the other as well as attempting to be the last boat afloat.
Twenty-five teams signed up for the last battle, which took place in September. The championship team was called “Without a Paddle.” Rebecca May, team captain and a junior in biological engineering, said her team wasn’t really sure what to expect.
“Honestly, we were just hoping not to have our ship tip over sideways,” May said. “We had no idea that we could win the whole thing.”
The next competition will take place on April 10. It will be the fourth time N.C. State has hosted a Pool Battleship competition, and it will be open to anyone with a valid admission to Carmichael gym, such as faculty and students.
“It’s something we’re trying to market and campaign to all the student body,” Fogg said. “We really want the student body involved. From anyone who’s already done it, the response has been beyond positive.”
According to Adam Sardinha, marketing and communication specialist for University Recreation, the goal of Pool Battleship is to defeat students’ unsure attitudes.
“We try to reach all stu dents with our intramural program,” Sardinha said. “The best way to know about things like this is to use our website as a resource as well as Facebook and Twitter. The best way to know, though, is to simply get involved.”
