Four seniors bring World Cup to the ‘Burg in three-day beer pong tournament
Posted on September 11, 2008
The FIFA World Cup is an international soccer competition that traditionally occurs every four years, but in Harrisonburg another “World Cup” happens twice a year. The competition hosted by four seniors does not, however, involve playing soccer. The main components of this tournament are two balls, 12 Solo Cups and a “thirst” for competition.
The World Cup of Beer Pong was started in the fall of 2006 and has been a main social event for many JMU students every fall and spring semester for the past two years. This past weekend was the fifth World Cup hosted by beer pong masterminds Matt Schwee, Griffin Spencer, Sam Devlin and Kyle Kinnally.
According to Spencer, Schwee was the first person to come up with the idea of hosting a beer pong tournament.
“We were sitting in the pool at Sam’s house in [Ashburn, Va.] one night over the summer and Schwee came in with what he thought was the greatest idea he’d ever had,” Spencer said. “We sat and talked about it a bit and it morphed into the World Cup because we all love soccer.”
“Clearly, it really was the greatest idea he’s ever come up with,” Spencer said.
There are a total of eight groups in the tournament with four teams in each group, totaling 32 teams, just like the FIFA World Cup. Overall, 64 individuals play in the tournament.
“Every team in the tournament has to be a country that is an official FIFA-sanctioned soccer team,” Spencer said. “Most of the teams are immediate friends who we can guarantee will be there, but all 32 teams aren’t the same each year; we’re always trying to add new people to mix up the competition.”
The four hosts also participate in the tournaments, hoping to someday clinch the highly sought-after championship title in the elaborate beer pong tournament. Both Schwee and Spencer represent team Switzerland; Devlin and senior Alex Hallheimer are team England; and Kinnally represents team Ireland with senior, Anthony Phillips, his marathon training partner.
The tournament has become so popular, even JMU alumni and students from other schools such as Virginia Tech, UVA and GMU make special trips for a chance to become the next champions. Senior Jimmy Smariga from team Colombia, travels down from Oregon State University each semester in order to play, making him the participant from the farthest distance.
“It’s the best beer pong tournament I’ve ever heard of,” Smariga said.
Iceland Takes Cup
As this semester’s World Cup Beer Pong Tournament came to an end, participants watched the final showdown between team Switzerland, against Virginia Tech seniors Matt Delbridge and Tony Christian, representing team Iceland. In the end, Iceland sealed the win, claiming its spot on the table as the Fall 2008 World Beer Pong Champions.
“We’re definitely coming back for the next tournament,” Delbridge said. “We’ve got to defend the title.”
For team Switzerland and World Cup hosts, Schwee and Spencer, the loss was bittersweet.
“It’s great to be a host and make it this far because none of the other guys in our house have advanced to the final game like Schwee and I did today,” Spencer said Sunday. “But getting to the Final and losing was disappointing.”
Recent 2008 graduate Jon Chavez, a team Italy member, returned to play in the tournament and was also inducted into the new Hall of Fame.
“Being inducted into the Hall of Fame felt like the crowning achievement of my life and I hope it’s not the last,” said Chavez, who looks forward to the tournaments each year and will return next time in order to “upkeep my Hall of Fame status.”
For other students, the tournament location, Stone Gate apartments, is just a short walk across the street. For neighbor and JMU senior Jessie Scruggs, this tournament was a defining moment for Vatican City’s World Cup Beer
