A little bit of hail didn’t stop the C.H. Little House residence’s Gator Bowl event that took place on Saturday, November 7, from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Wilfrid Laurier University’s Alumni Field.
The annual event, hosted by Little House’s house council, is a flag football tournament to raise money for breast cancer.
“When I got to the field and saw people with bandanas and ripped shirts, I just stood at the edge of the field and wanted to cry … but couldn’t because we had a game in two minutes,” said Hassan Ali, the chair of Little House’s house council.
Organizing the event began at Little House’s first house council meeting in September. As chair, Ali decided to split up the house council members into four teams — marketing, the football game, logistics and outreach. The Gator Bowl was composed of quick, back and forth 20 minute games consisting of pickup football rules.
For some, however, this was more than just a game.
“We wanted to show that even though we’re all guys, we can come together and support a great cause because no other residence is doing something like this,” said Ali.
Ali explained the Gator Bowl was a good way to form a community amongst the Little House residence students in support of a great cause. The event was the biggest of the year for Little House’s house council.
The Gator Bowl has always only featured participants from Little House residence, making it an event truly unique to their residence community and their house council., Ali described it as a growing experience for the entire council.
“I think everyone in house council […] the dons, and the first-year students, they deserve credit and recognition, and they should know how proud I am, how proud everyone else is and how proud they should be of themselves.”
Ali hopes future residence students of Little House will continue the event and keep the message of the cause alive.
“My advice to future Little House Gators would be that this is going to be one of the biggest opportunities for you to not only play some football, but also raise awareness for a great cause and if you get to do that by playing football for five hours on a Saturday against your don, there’s nothing better.”
C.H Little House’s house council is planning on hosting a rugby tournament in March. The cause has yet to be announced.
“This was the first big event; we definitely learned some things, what we should really do, what we should bring back.”