Photo by Emmanuel Pizano<\/a><\/p>\nOozeball is an over three-decades-old tradition that Doug Kuykendall, the former assistant vice president and director of Campus Recreation, started in 1989. <\/p>\n
Dax Kuykendall, Doug Kuykendall\u2019s son and the current director of Campus Recreation, said he had never attended Oozeball until he stepped into his role at UTA. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was shocked. It’s such a unique event,\u201d he said. \u201cEverybody’s committed to being gross and having fun.\u201d <\/p>\n
He said the president during the first tournament was Wendell Nedderman, who broke his foot while playing, but the event continued into a long run. <\/p>\n
Nathan Ha, assistant director of Sport Programs in Campus Recreation, said the event is a collaborative effort made whole by different departments, including student workers who perform various tasks, like setting up the tents and the courts. <\/p>\n
The planning process of the game starts in May, after graduation, and all summer the departments make sure they have sponsors for it. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis year, I believe, we have 76 teams,\u201d he said. \u201cThe first tournament ever only had like two or three teams.\u201d <\/p>\n
Ha started with Campus Recreation in 2022 and has been working behind the scenes, especially with risk management. There are resources, like first aid and handmade showers, students can use during and after the game, he said. <\/p>\n
Luz Becerra, a finance and marketing senior and a second-time Oozeball participant, said a key difference she saw from last year\u2019s event was the food and beverage stands. <\/p>\n
She encouraged others to partake in the game. She said she braided her hair, taped her shoes and wore undesired clothes. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you’re old, you get to tell your kids that you did volleyball in mud, so it’s fun, exciting,\u201d Becerra said. <\/p>\n
The winners of this tournament were the Ballwans. <\/p>\n
Alumnus Shishir Bishwokarma said \u201cBallwan\u201d means a strong team in Nepali. <\/p>\n
\u201cLast time we were third, and this time we finally won, so it feels great,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
News editor James Word contributed to this story.<\/p>\n
@nanda.ach_<\/p>\n
news-editor.shorthorn@uta.edu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Students shake hands after a match of Oozeball on Sept. 25 on the corner of Summit Avenue and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1086,116,118,117,154],"class_list":["post-448803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-campus","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/6ab72e8f8265c.image.jpg\")
<\/p>\n