Catholic school students go gaga for Gaga Ball

An Eagle Scout project led a Lumen Christi Catholic High School student to plan, fund, and build a Gaga Ball pit for generations of future Archangels to enjoy.

“Lumen has given me so much,” said 16-year-old Vincent Everard, who is currently in his junior year at Lumen. “All the teachers here are just incredible and I’ve got great friends here. So, this is just a small thing that I can do in the big span of things for the future of Lumen.”

Everard is a Boy Scout working to become an Eagle Scout. With plans to have the school’s annual retreat on campus instead of St. Therese’s Camp in Wasilla, which has a Gaga Ball pit, Principal Brian Ross suggested Everard build one to complete his Eagle Scout project and allow students to still enjoy their favorite retreat pastime.

Vincent Everard’s Eagle Scout project brought his community together to build a Gaga Ball pit at Lumen Christi Catholic High School. (Courtesy of Lumen Christi Catholic High School)

A few boys try to win a game of Gaga Ball as fellow St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School classmates look on. (Courtesy of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School)

Gaga ball is a fast-paced, high-energy game that’s similar to dodgeball, but often considered gentler. It’s played in an octagonal pit with players hitting each other with a rubber ball and trying to eliminate their opponents by hitting them below the knees. The last player standing wins.

Everard planned out the project and gathered supplies over the summer to complete the pit before the school retreat on Sept. 5-6.

“As a former parent of the school, one of the things I’ve always appreciated was that seventh-grade through twelfth-grade kids still play,” said Anne Gore, director of advancement at Lumen. “I feel like that element of play gets lost when kids go up through junior high and high school, and so, the fact that Vincent added another place for our kids to play as a group, as a community, and as a school means so much.”

Everard raised about $2,000 for the project as of early September. The remaining funds will be used to purchase more Gaga Ball equipment, a plaque for the pit, and paint to help preserve the pit from natural elements. Everard said there are plans to paint it in the spring of next year.

Vincent Everard, on left, helps build walls for the Gaga Ball pit Tomasz Rzesut is completing for his Eagle Scout project at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School. (Courtesy of Lumen Christi Catholic High School)

Everard planned to build the pit a couple of weeks before the retreat. Unsure of who would come to help, he began working as he had planned, but to his surprise, more than 15 families and a group of fellow Boy Scouts appeared to assist in the project.

The building crew first leveled the ground by removing some of the gravel in the designated area. They then began assembling the walls to form the octagon-shaped pit. With two people at every wall, the “pit crew” then screwed the walls together using hinges.

“I couldn’t have done it without any of those people,” Everard said. “I hate building stuff, so I can’t imagine trying to do something like that on my own.”

Everard thought it would take him all day to build the pit by himself, but with the help of his Lumen and Boy Scout communities, they managed to complete it in less than three hours, he said.

Later in September, Lumen’s 138 students flocked to the Gaga Ball pit, which is located between the high school building and the school’s vegetable garden, during their annual school retreat like in previous years at St. Therese’s Camp.

Anne Gore said students are also allowed to play during their lunch break throughout the school year.

Tomasz Rzesut built a Gaga Ball pit at SEAS for his Eagle Scout project. (Courtesy of Lumen Christi Catholic High School)

One of Everard’s lower-grade classmates, Tomasz Rzeszut, went on to complete a similar Eagle Scout project at Lumen’s sister school, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School (SEAS). The Gaga Ball pit was officially presented to SEAS students on Friday morning, Sept. 13.

Lumen’s Facebook post highlighting the completion said this: “We’re so proud of the kindness and dedication to community that our Eagle Scout students share each and every day. Thank you, Tomasz!”

“Becoming an Eagle Scout is an incredible achievement, especially at such a young age,” a SEAS spokesperson said via Facebook. “It represents leadership, dedication, and service to the community. We’re so proud to see one of our own giving back to the school in such a meaningful way.”

Everard and Rzeszut are both graduates of SEAS; they are finishing their high school years at Lumen.

“Kids really feel a sense of ownership around here,” Gore said.

“Once I’ve graduated and I’m off in the world, hopefully, students in the future will still love this and be able to use it,” Everard said.