By Dessa Bayrock (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: November 28, 2012
Every month, and sometimes more often, students gather in U-House to arm themselves with Nerf equipment in preparation for the upcoming battle between human and zombie. Their tagline: can you survive the apocalypse?
The game itself is simple: a large group of “humans” (usually in the neighbourhood of 30-40 students and their guests) goes into the night, armed with Nerf guns and their own courage, to hunt and be hunted by two or three students acting the role of “zombies.” If the zombies catch them, they become infected – and the force of zombies grows until UFV’s green is a free-for-all battle.
The last battle of the year happened this Friday, on a wet, dark and foggy night. The battle raged in several rounds, starting at 5 p.m. and running until about nine.
Participants received odd looks from those on campus to attend UFV varsity games, as well as those gathered at AfterMath to rock out to the CIVL-sponsored punk show.
The only downside to the night was an incident in which a participant took a fall on concrete and hurt his knee. HvZ administrators could not confirm if he had broken, strained or fractured the limb.
Shane Potter, who is certified as the highest level of occupational first aid attendant and also as an emergency medical responder, serves as the medic for HvZ. There have been several injuries since the group formed, he said, but it’s something that comes with the territory.
“Whenever you get 40 or 50 people running around, like any sport, people will get hurt,” Potter stated. “Everyone is briefed on rules and safety before the games but like any activity things will happen.”
“To be honest,” Potter continued, “the HvZ admin team is very mature and safe – they have briefing sessions before every game and have people monitoring the games. I think they do an excellent job keeping people safe.”
The next HvZ game will take place in January, and Potter stated that the group will be reworking safety protocols over the winter break to help avoid and deal with similar injuries in the future.
