BY HADLEY THOMPSON, NEWS ASSIGNMENTS EDITOR
Alumni remember their experience and preference for softball while current students enjoy kickball.
“Getting up early in the morning with the sun in your face and the dew on the grass will always be something I look forward to,” said Luis Perez, a sophomore video production major.
Perez, after hearing the old tradition of softball, said his preference for playing kickball over played Spring Weekend.
“I love the vibe of getting together with friends to end the semester in such a fun and weird way, like kickball,” said Perez.
Other students and faculty favor kickball over softball like Perez, while alumni prefer softball.
Some have said on Spring Weekends, festivities, games and live performances take place on St. Bonaventure University’s campus. Annual kickball games, some say the highlight of the weekend, had not always been the game played. Rob DeFazio, the associate dean for Student Life, made the decision in 2013 to switch the traditional game of softball to kickball for reasons of participation and safety. Some current students and faculty have said they never knew of the tradition of softball instead of kickball.
Some alumni remember their experience with softball.
Anna Bulszewicz, a Bonaventure 2007 graduate and lecturer, said that she noticed a change in the weekend besides the game played.
“Spring Weekend and what all goes on for the Bona weekend, there are a lot of things done differently than when I was here,” said Bulszewicz.
Bulszewicz said that it might have something to do with the difference in student life today from her time as a student. She said that today it takes more to get everyone involved.
“Trying to engage students is what it has come down to…we were drinking beer, eating sh*t and we were fat and happy,” said Bulszewicz.
Michael Spong, another Bonaventure 2007 graduate and lecturer, also appreciated the old tradition of Spring Weekend.
“I would take softball any day over kickball,” said Spong.
Spong knows the dangers of the game.
“We have had broken legs, bruises or scrapes… one time a bat flew out of someone’s hand and almost hit someone else, that could’ve been a problem,” said Spong.
Spong said he did not understand why the game would change. Others said why the game changed.
DeFazio, who changed the tradition of softball to kickball, said that students now play kickball for safety reasons.
“It is not to say that people cannot get injured in kickball but the risk level is much lower than it is for softball,” said DeFazio.
DeFazio said he has seen many injuries from softball in his years at St. Bonaventure.
“Someone was pitching and the laces on the ball slit the batter’s earlobe. Another time, there was a throw to first base that went off the first baseman’s head, you could see their skull,” said DeFazio.
He said that kickball has shown to be the safer alternative.
“The kickball ball went through the short stop’s hands and hit someone in the head, so everyone laughed. If that was a softball that drilled someone in the head, we would be calling 911,” said DeFazio.
Margot Hickey, director of intramurals and club sports, said that kickball gives students more opportunities to participate than softball does.
“Softball requires more skill. If you have never played it or do not have as much athletic experience, you can’t really play. But kickball is really for everybody, regardless of your athletic abilities,” said Hickey.
Hickey said that she hopes this opportunity for anyone to play provides an even bigger sendoff for each senior class.
Some new alumni such as Jamie Carlson, St. Bonaventure ‘21, said she would have never known of softball played over Spring Weekend.
Carlson said that it does not matter to her what students previously played. She said she could not imagine anything else but kickball for all the amusement it brings to everyone.
“I will remember all the fun times my friends and I had with forming our kickball teams, designing our T-shirts and spending a fun weekend together,” said Carlson. “No matter the game, that is what that weekend is about.”
thompshp20@bonaventure.edu
