Dodgeball tournament raises money for St. James High School counselor battling cancer

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF) - The St. James High School staff and students put the fun in fundraiser, as they raised money for one of their counselors who is currently battling cancer.

The teachers and students at St. James High School took part in a dodgeball tournament Wednesday evening with two goals in mind; winning and raising money for a beloved student counselor.

Elaina Tubbs is a mother of two and a counselor at the school who is currently battling Breast Cancer.

To help Tubbs through her fight, Katie Davis, SJHS girl’s volleyball coach decided to organize a fundraiser.

“We’ve been raising money for her, she’s currently battling breast cancer and it’s a super challenging situation, she has two really small children,” said Davis. “We decided to think of something really creative to get kids involved, I just figured kids would really want to play dodgeball, especially if some teachers are out there, I’m sure they’re always dreaming about how they could maybe hit a teacher with a dodgeball.”

Students enjoyed the tournament listing some of their favorite parts of the night as getting a good hit, eliminating friends on opposing teams and just enjoying a fundraiser as they’ve never had before.

“This is one of the more fun fundraisers, we haven’t really done anything like this before,” said an SJHS student.

The tournament had 18 teams which included all student teams, all teacher teams, and a mix of student and teacher teams.

“The whole staff got involved,” said Davis. “They started sponsoring teams they told their students ‘go sign up, I’ll sponsor you we want this to be a big event’ and it really was, it was super awesome.”

The cost was $5 for anyone who wanted to play and teachers paid $30 to sponsor teams. 

“History Teacher, Math teacher, Spanish teacher we were all out here, it was super fun,” said Davis.

Students brought their skills to the tournament as The Cannons came out victorious, they also brought a winning mentality.

“We thought we were going to win from the beginning and that’s what we did today,” said a player for The Cannons.

At the end of the day, the event had more than just a team win but a community rallying together for one of their own.

“Any small thing that we could do to help her,” said Davis. “Whether it’s to raise a bit of money or maybe just for her to know the community, the students and the staff are all backing her on this.”

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