Diggerball History
   
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Who would have thought that what began as a simple gym class game could have evolved, along with its participants, into much more than revealed by the surface. The first sightings of this game were during the 97-98 school year in Mr. Bedard's gym class. Jim O'Grady was student teaching the class and was quite liberal when enforcing the rules of an indoor soccer match. Ben Langley quickly adapted the game and coined the term diggerball (related to "digging" the ball out of the corner, where it was frequently found). There were only a few gym class games between the Russians and the Eskimos that year, but lunch time chatter of the games intrigued others not fortunate enough to play. When the 98-99 school year rolled around a small group decided an after school leaugue was necessary, and organized 4 teams; Red, Blue, White and Black. Games were held Friday nights in gym 3, with the teams forced to sneak into the school due to a lack of a permit, although Blake Claydon was a very unofficial supervisor. The games were intense and hard fought, but the enjoyment was cut short when administration learned of the games and refused to allow entry to gym 3 or issue the necessary permit. A video of diggerball was shown at the Awards Assembly and some how medals were awarded as well. All this left the diggers wanting more.

Andrew Zulpo and Ben Langley spent most of the next summer getting the run-around while trying to secure the permits for gym 3. It was more than obvious that no one wanted this to happen, but persistance would win out and the diggers were finally allowed to play, on the condition a supervisor was found. Thankfully Mrs. Zulpo "volunteered" as no one else would touch the game with a ten foot pole (Which of course made sense given that it was rumoured there was an affiliation between the diggers and the "paper-darters", whoever they were). To kick off the 99-2000 school year Black team folded and Yellow team was created. An entry draft was held, oddly enough at lunch time in the cafetorium (The Glen Ward Hall). Red and Blue made some key choices, White made some very bad choices and Yellow was not left with much. The games were again played on Friday nights, 2 games everynight, 44min each, and every player absolutely gave everything they had for the entire game. Many weeks of exhibition play commenced, with teams picking up dust-pan players and making some key trades. 9 weeks of regular season action was played, with an All-Stars vs No-Stars game during week 8. Playoffs were a best of 3 series for the semis followed by a best of 3 series for the championship, which saw Red victorious. Every game was video taped by the sky-cam (from the weight room) and from the floor-cam (located....yes, on the floor) and a second diggerball video was made. It was shown in the gymnasium on the final day of school, on a giant screen with a PA system to over 600 kids. Weekly updates every Monday morning gave people something to talk about, and even though most people hated Monday mornings, diggers loved it because it was only 4 more days until diggerball.

 
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