In the evenings, the Stuce is usually the go-to place to do homework and for chill hangouts with your friends. However, if you were in the Stuce last week, your experience was most likely anything but relaxed.
You would have seen lines of men marching in, some carrying flags, others carrying a giant stuffed moose. The building was much louder than usual, and it only got louder as the men put on giant Sumo suits and started wrestling as their friends who surrounded them cheered them on.
Sumo wrestling is one of the events in the week-long competition between the halls of Trustees. During Trustees Olympics, the six halls in Trustees — Crust, Moose, N3RD, Underground, the Guild and Citadel — face off in order to achieve honor, glory and a small aluminum trophy.
The history of the event itself is not entirely clear, but it has been a tradition since 2010. Trustees Olympics takes place every semester and always follows the same format; there is an event each night in which the halls compete to earn points, and the hall with the most points at the end of the week is dubbed the champion. The fall and spring semesters incorporate different events.
This fall, the events were mattress tackling, sumo wrestling, jungle pong, video games (this semester’s game was Mario Kart) and trivia. Trivia is the only event in which every person on the hall can participate — for the other event each hall sends two to four representatives to compete for the hall.
“[Trustees Olympics] gets all different people together for the different kinds of events,” said Trustees ARD and senior Dylan Johnson. “You have mattress tackling, which just sounds weird, and sumo, where you see the suits. It’s just stuff that gets the stereotypical guy to go ‘That’s dope, I’m gonna go,’ which is always really cool because it brings in all sorts of different guys in from the dorm.”
The wide variety of events allows each person in the dorm to use their skills for their hall. Every guy who lives in Trustees can participate, regardless of class, which helps bring the individual halls and all of Trustees together in competition.
“I think it brings the whole of Trustees together really well,” said Trustees RD Eric Harbin. “Yes, it is a competition. Yes, there are floor rivalries. But the guys of Trustees really come together for this event. We always have a great turnout from every hall and it is great to see these guys battle it out.“
Not only does Trustees Olympics bring the men of Trustees together, but it also brings the Asbury community as a whole together. Some of the events, like sumo and jungle pong, are open to spectators.
“It is cool to see people come out and watch the events we have in the Stuce,” said Harbin. “Earlier this week we had Sumo and jungle pong in there, and there were girls coming out from sister halls and many other people just curious to see what was happening. I don’t know how many people we had watching the Sumo event on Monday night, but that was the most people we have ever had attend one of our events since I have been here. It is just great to see the support from some of our other dorms.”
Overall, Trustees Olympics is a fun way for students to come together to enjoy fun competition. For Trustees residents in particular, it is especially meaningful because they get to showcase their hall — and dorm — pride.
“Trustees is a special place,” said Harbin. “The guys that live here absolutely love Trustees. Trustees Olympics is just one of our events where they can showcase their pride, and it is cool to see them come out and give it their all.”