Morgan’s Message is one of the many clubs here at Downingtown East. Morgan’s Message is an organization that “strives to eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health within the student-athlete community and equalize the treatment of physical and mental health in athletics,” according to its official website. Morgan’s Message has clubs in over 900 schools, including our own. In mid-February, the Morgan’s Message Club announced a Spikeball Tournament scheduled for March 2nd. 

“I came up with the spikeball idea after playing it a lot this summer,” said Riley Marks (10), the president of the Morgan’s Message Club. She continued, “I knew I wanted to have an event sometime this year, and I thought that this was a fun, easy game that would get a lot of people interested.” For anyone who is unfamiliar with the sport of spikeball, the concept is rather simple. The basic idea is that two teams will take turns spiking a ball into a net near the ground until the other team is unable to return the ball.

Alongside Riley, Sofia Fanelli (11) is the Vice President of the Morgan’s Message Club, and one of the heads of organizing this event. “Planning and organizing the tournament has been a little stressful and has definitely had ups and downs, but I enjoy taking on responsibilities like this and I cannot wait to see the turnout,” said Sofia. Setting up the event has required getting teams to sign up, setting up fundraising, and organizing food, prizes, equipment for the sport, and gym space, among other things. According to Sofia, “All the dirty work is done.”

Everyone involved in the organization of the event believes that the tournament will go well. “I think the tournament will run smoothly,” said Karyn Michaels (11), a member of the event committee and one of the organizers of this event. “We have been very precise and careful with our planning to try to get everything right,” said Sofia. 

“We are very excited!” said Riley. Tournaments like these take a lot of effort to organize and pull off, so it’s wonderful to see such events happening at East. Not only is it good for the morale of the school, but it also raises money for student athlete mental health. The Morgan’s Message Club is doing important work to raise awareness to their cause and really embodies the great acts that take place here at Downingtown East.