Central Michigan Life

Issue date: 3/26/08 Section: News

Stevensville sophomore, Ewa Gorski, left, bumps up against Novi freshman Lauren Buckley during the Sumo Slam charity event for the St. Vincent Home for Children on Tuesday in the Woldt/Emmons lobby. RPL 430 hosted the event, attracting students with open sumo wrestling matches, raffles and food. [Click to enlarge]

From left, Dylan Ulman, Tawas junior, Josh Brown, Flint junior, Kyle Gentges, Waterford senior, and Jackie DuBois, East China senior, work on suiting up Gentges and Brown before a match during the Sumo Slam charity event hosted by the RPL 430 class. [Click to enlarge]

Every match started with the sound of a cooking pan lid.

That is when two students, clad in inflated sumo wrestling suits, began pushing each other around for Tuesday's "Sumo Slam."

Students from RPL 430: Recreation Programming put on the event, which cost $5 for two people to participate. Those who did not want to participate were able to make donations.

Students in the class found the event to be a creative idea.

"How many times do you get to tell someone that you made an idiot out of yourself in front of your friends in a sumo suit?" said Shelby Township senior and volunteer Nick Paulin.

The money that the students raised will be given to St. Vincent Catholic Charities to help those experiencing abuse or neglect.

"The money is going towards a good cause and this is an experience that you will even want to tell your kids about," Paulin said.

Students who participated stepped into a sumo suit and were inflated with air.

Wixom senior Daniel Wulf said the sumo suit was snug on his body.

"It was hot and I started to run out of breath in the last round," he said.

He said it was something new and difficult, but definitely fun.

Port Hope junior Rebecca Koglin said even though those who wear the suit may feel and look stupid, the event was fun.

"It was an awesome idea," Koglin said. "Once people hear about what's going on, they are going to want to do it."

Koglin said people came to have a good time and push their friends around.

"It was a really creative idea that I haven't heard of anyone else doing before," said Grand Haven sophomore Cassie Rubley. "It was a fun way to get people involved for a good cause."

Rubley said she was glad that she did not fall down because it probably would have been hard to get up with that kind of suit on.

"We wanted to do something different," Paulin said. "We wanted to squash something so we decided to squash child abuse."

Sponsors included Heritage Tattoo, 1222 S. Mission St., which donated a non-genital piercing, Celebration Cinema, 4935 E. Pickard Road, which donated two $10 gift certificates, and Domino's Pizza, 706 S. Mission St., which provided four pizzas for participants to enjoy.


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