By Amanda Williams
a-williams.3@onu.edu
“Left foot green!” the spinner calls out above the din.
The five males left on the double-long Twister board lunge toward the empty green circles.
Elliot Twomey of the Phi Mu Delta team, who has already been knocked off the board that his teammates and the members of team Sweet Dudes are still battling on, offers advice to his brothers who remain in the game.
“Sacrifice yourself!” he yells to one of them. “Just sacrifice yourself!”
After a few more spins, the PMD team wins the match, catapulting them into the final round of the Theta Twister, to be played against the team from Sigma Phi Epsilon.
The teams take opposite sides on the board, and a small crowd gathers to watch the final Twister match. The PMD team, made up of Brandon Parker, junior accounting major Matt Mau, junior management major Trent Gerber and Twomey, a sophomore pharmaceutical business major, line up on the left side of the board. The Sig Ep team, made up of junior electrical engineering major Igor Mierzvinski, junior mechanical engineering major Darren Nelson, P3 Adam “Goat” Erinc and P3 Jon Manocchio, take the right side.
Meghan Davlin, a P5 and Kappa Alpha Theta sister, goes over a few of the rules. For this match, she says, a player will be out if he re-places a hand or foot after it has already been set down.
“And no comments from the peanut gallery,” Davlin adds, eyeing both the team members and the on-looking supporters. She has been involved with the Theta Twister for five years now, and knows that “things get a little rowdy.”
The match begins, eight bodies twisting and contorting to follow the spinner’s commands. After roughly five minutes of awkward stretching and pushing, only two players remain on the board: Erinc from Sig Ep and Twomey from PMD.
When Twomey accidentally allows a knee to touch the board in between spins, he is deemed out. The members of the Sig Ep team are named the winners, and are awarded blue “Champion” T-shirts.
The 32 teams involved in this year’s Theta Twister, which is hosted annually by the sisters of Kappa Alpha Theta as a fundraiser for Theta’s philanthropy, Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), included both Greek-affiliated and non-affiliated teams. This, to Davlin, is the best part about the event.
“It makes it feel like a campus event, and not just a Greek one,” she said.
For many involved, the Theta Twister was a way to have some fun on a Tuesday evening.
P1 Josh Anstine of Team Green Shirt stuck around for most of the event, even though his team lost in the first round. Sporting a lime green T-shirt, green gloves and a neon green Oscar the Grouch hat, Anstine alluded to the competitive nature of many of those involved in the tournament.
“I feared for my life out there,” he said. “I think we should’ve had some spring training.”
Marcella Economos, P1, also felt the weight of the competition – literally. During a 20-minute Twister battle against the Theta team, Economos found herself bent and twisted beneath an aggressive Theta player.
“I held more body weight than I ever have before,” the slight Economos said. “I guess I just have to grow taller so I can push, too.”
This year’s event, planned by P1 Aimee Wallace, raised over $300 for Theta’s philanthropy. Representatives from CASA were present for the first time this year to speak about their organization in between matches.