Portsmouth shows Purple pride in annual dodgeball tournament

Event hosted by PHS student group Patriots Committed

By Jim McGaw
Posted 2/1/19

PORTSMOUTH — It became apparent early on Thursday night that the Artful Dodgers, a team made up of School Committee members and district administrators, may have been slightly overmatched …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Register to post events


If you'd like to post an event to our calendar, you can create a free account by clicking here.

Note that free accounts do not have access to our subscriber-only content.

Day pass subscribers

Are you a day pass subscriber who needs to log in? Click here to continue.


Portsmouth shows Purple pride in annual dodgeball tournament

Event hosted by PHS student group Patriots Committed

Posted

PORTSMOUTH — It became apparent early on Thursday night that the Artful Dodgers, a team made up of School Committee members and district administrators, may have been slightly overmatched on the dodgeball court.

“We’ve lost one game and we’re waiting to lose our second one,” quipped one of its players, Superintendent Ana Riley, as she rested between rounds of the fifth annual Project Purple Dodgeball Tournament in the Portsmouth High School field house.

Her prediction came true about 20 minutes later. 

“We’ve played two games and have been consistent — we lost them both,” said another Artful Dodger: School Committee member Allen Shers.

Members of the PHS Admin Team could sympathize. “We already lost a game — to the freshmen!” exclaimed PHS Principal Joseph Amaral.

The adults were quick to point out, however, that they were having a ball and excited to be there.

“The competition with all the kids is super,” Mr. Shers said.

The event, which featured more than 20 teams with names like The Dirty Dodgers, Da Nard Dogs, Purple Reign and The Dodgefathers, was hosted by the PHS student group Patriots Committed with support from the Portsmouth Prevention Coalition and The Herren Project.

The tournament was the culmination of Project Purple 2019 (Jan. 21 to Feb. 1), which celebrated local youth who choose to be stay away from drugs and alcohol.

“Our goal is to get students to share the same belief of being substance abuse-free and to be the best you can be every day,” said Olive Allen, a member of Patriots Committed and a “fill-in” on the Sons of Horgan student dodgeball team.

“We host a lot of fun events — drug-free and alcohol-free — that promote Project Purple and The Herren Project,” said fellow member Ben Chase, referring to the organization founded by Portsmouth resident Chris Herren, a former professional basketball player and recovering addict.

Patriots Committed also asked attendees to bring donations of cereal, peanut butter and jelly or macaroni and cheese. 

“They’re going to a food drive in the community, to go back to local people in need,” said Olive. “We just wanted to give back to the community because Patriots Committed is about being your best self and we also wanted to support the community around us.” 

Players on Sons of Horgan, like many of the other students, displayed some swagger when facing their opponents — in one case even dropping to the floor for some pushups before a game.

“You just gotta be aggressive,” Ben said when asked about his team’s strategy.

“I don’t know,” said Olive when asked the same question. “Just throw it as hard as you can and hope it hits someone.”

Project Purple, Patriots Committed

2024 by East Bay Media Group

Barrington · Bristol · East Providence · Little Compton · Portsmouth · Tiverton · Warren · Westport
Meet our staff
Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.