Bygone days return at Swampscott High

SWAMPSCOTT – Swampscott parents, teachers and coaches took a trip back to their elementary school days Wednesday night for a community dodge ball tournament.The tournament transported adults back in time as a fundraiser for Swampscott High School’s senior class. More than 40 adults in sneakers and gym clothes battled it out with neon Nerf balls in the school’s gym while students cheered from the bleachers.Click for a photo gallery of the game.”I haven’t played dodgeball probably since the ninth grade,” said Rob Dandreao, whose team “Pitt Crew” won the tournament’s opening game in a landslide.While many of the athletic dads, teachers and coaches embraced the game, some of the tournament’s more dainty competitors started having second thoughts as student referees blew the opening whistle.”I don’t know why we’re doing it,” said mom Lauren Baker, a member of a team of football moms. “I think we think we’re going to get out in the first round; it’ll be like ?Bing, bing, bing, bing, done.’ “That’s what happened members of the team “Soccer Dads Gone Bad.” A member of “Pitt Crew” smacked a yellow ball into the stomach of their last team member in under three minutes.But the soccer dads rallied on the sideline, talking strategy and pumping each other up for the next round in between gasps for air.”I was out before it started,” Smith said. “I ran up to get a ball, but they were faster.”The only regret, Mentuck said, was getting out knocked out too early.”It was a lot of fun,” he said.Amber Parcher can be reached at [email protected].