Let it Rip
After the pandemic hit this school, the Beyblade club was one of its victims but has returned after its year-long hiatus. Although gone for a full year, the club is now returned again thanks to sophomores A.J. Salgaonkar, John Yarberry, and James Nichols. Fr. Patrick Friend is the sponsor and host of the Beyblade club.
Beyblade, a game of spinning tops being thrown in an arena, is the main basis of this club, but there is more than that. “It has its regulations and bylaws,” said Fr. Friend, “and even rules as to what Beyblades are regulation and what ones aren’t.”
“I like meeting other people who like to Beyblade,” said Yarberry. “I like having battles with people, and I like trading parts with people too.”
Even in the pandemic, the club seems to have undergone minimal changes. “It changed in that it didn’t exist for a while, and now it’s back,” said Fr. Friend. “I think that the general makeup of the club’s structure is very similar. It’s a bunch of guys kinda getting together and ripping it.”
Despite the fact that Fr. Friend hosts the club’s location, the club is mainly run by the students involved in it. “I don’t know anything about Beyblade,” said Fr. Friend, “but I am happy to provide my room and oversight if it makes students happy.”
The club also has its differences compared to other clubs in how students run it. “There is not much material we have to go off of,” said John Yarberry. “We kind of have to make it up and make our own template. We have to create it from the ground up.”
The club has a hands-on formula to it. “We’re planning on organizing little tournaments and setting up a bracket for either the next week,” said Salgoankar, “or to start that week, and maybe that next week or the week after.”
Yarberry also described how other classmates have responded to the club. “A lot of people said that they want to come,” said Yarberry, “but don’t know if they can, which is understandable, and people have asked me where to get Beyblades.” Salgaonkar discussed how the club would recommend someone try the sport on their own. “I’d say go to one of our meetings first, see how it is, see how you like it, borrow someone else’s Beyblade. And, if you like it, maybe go to Walmart and get a cheap one.”
The Beyblade club, like many other Covid-19 casualties, has returned back to this school at full force, and its students are to thank for that. “Bottom line,” said Fr. Friend, “Beyblade club destroys all other clubs.”
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