Organizers cancel annual summer dodgeball tourney

Saturday's Summer Slam, one of two annual tournaments organized by the Jackson Underground Dodgeball League, was canceled Tuesday following action taken Monday night by the Jackson City Council.

The council voted to ban non-tennis activities on Jackson City Park's upper tennis courts.

The league earlier this summer had been moved to the park's lower courts due to a refurbishing project on the upper courts and the risk of weekly dodgeball games causing damage. League organizers thought they had reached a compromise with the Jackson Parks and Recreation Department to use the upper courts for tournaments.

"We're going to have to cancel this," Josh Tomlin, league co-founder, said Tuesday. "It's a real shame. There's nothing else we can do right now."

Tomlin expected 15 to 25 teams.

The dodgeball league still will play games on Friday nights on the lower courts, which have chain-link nets on the tennis court and no surrounding fence.

A statement on JUDL's Web site Tuesday said, "We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and express our deepest regrets towards the city's actions of robbing people of a positive, pro-active, and pro-recreational activity."