by Conor McConville ‘17
Based on events in the television show American Gladiator, the Gladiator Games are an annual event held by the Latin Club. The Games consist of three events: the obstacle course, where students run through a few different obstacles while being pelted with tennis balls and giant exercise balls; the joust, where students try to knock teachers off the platform and vice-versa; and powerball, in which students try to get rugby balls into a garbage can while teachers try to knock them down with a blocking pad.
The routine was amended this year in order to increase student participation and enjoyment. the bumper balls section saw the addition of bumper balls, which had been bought by the Latin department earlier in the year. The obstacles in the obstacle course, however, remained the same and included scaling stacked mats, running through hurdles, running up and down a ramp, and being hit with a steady barrage of tennis and exercise balls.
The joust, too, escaped major alterations, except that this year it was student-versusstudent rather than student-versus-teacher.
However, powerball was replaced with bumperball, an event in which students, in bumper-balls, try to to knock over bowling pins which are defended by teachers in bumperballs of their own. The event seemed to be a big step up from powerball with both the students and teachers enjoying it much more because it enabled the teachers and students to slam into one another with a strength they ordinarily couldn’t.
While most participants agreed that the event was a worthy addition to the usual itinerary, strategies for bumper ball differed. Some groups tried immediately to knock the bowling pins over, while others immediately tried to the knock the Latin teachers over, a pointless effort because both Mr. Arbeznik and Mr. Masterson levelled anyone in their way. No matter what strategy a team pursued, everyone had a great time, and the Gladiator Games achieved another year of success.
