In this field of battle, the strong of arm and fleet of feet emerge victorious.It can’t hurt to be naturally athletic, deadpanned Chief Alexander Piazzisi of the USS Carl Levin based in Oahu.
Piazzisi’s 10-member Team Oden bested the U.S. Marine team Mohawks and brought home the trophy at the fourth annual Dodgeball Tournament on the third day of LA Fleet Week, Southern California’s largest Memorial Day event.
For 10 years, more than 1,000 sailors, Marines and Coast Guardmen have joined their military peers at sites around the Port of Los Angeles to celebrate the past, present and future of the U.S. armed forces. San Francisco, Miami and Portland are among other cities that hold Fleet Week festivities.
Bringing home the win in their first tournament appearance, in the name of the country’s newest guided missile destroyer, the USS Levin crew credited their win to teamwork.
“We just decided we go throw together,” Piazzisi said.
While New York’s Fleet Week features soccer and baseball at Central Park, the dodgeball tournament is a highlight of L.A.’s event.
Teams from the warship Harper’s Ferry, the Battleship Iowa, Coast Guard cutter Eagle and USS Levin showed up for the friendly competition, which nevertheless came with its share of razzing, trash talking and game chants.
The servicemembers from the Navy and the team of Marines from Twentynine Palms were especially excited to win in honor of their branch’s 250th anniversary.
Teams compete at L.A. Fleet Week’s fourth annual military dodgeball tournament on Sunday, May 25, 2025, in San Pedro. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)Dorota Lewandowski of Fit City Adventures in San Diego has helped emcee the contest for three years. She wore a black shirt that read “World’s Okayest Referee.”
“I love the energy the teams bring,” she said. “It’s the military so they’re all competitive, but they’re also all good sports.”
The competitors were all hoping to dethrone back-to-back champions, the U.S. Army Desert Donkeys from Twentynine Palms, who could not make it this year. There was also no team representing the Air Force.
The Los Angeles Kings sent its Ice Crew to compete for the first time.
Army veteran Malik Warner usually attends community events for the hockey organization. This time, he got a workout sliding, jumping, diving and admiring competitor’s lateral moves and acrobatics in the double-elimination games.
“It’s always fun to come out to events like this and honor veterans and our military, my fellow battle buddies,” Warner said. “My strategy is to have fun. I’m going to take it easy. It’s dip, dive, duck and dodge.”
Lewandowski said she does a lot of dodging herself, with competitors’ strong arm tactics often finding hapless spectators. Referees Conor Heelan and Markell Stokes, both of Los Angeles, said military folk are serious about following dodgeball rules once they know it.
“It’s very strategic, it’s much more a game of chess and not checkers,” said Heelan, who has played dodgeball at the highest level as one of the country’s Top 25 players. “My motto is, ‘If they can throw, they gotta go,’ you want to get them out.”
The Carranza family drove for almost two hours from Apple Valley to attend their first Fleet Week event. Their son Cesar Jr. is a Marine on his third deployment.
“I admire everything, how he helps people and travels a lot,” said his sister Jasmine.
Cesar and Rosa Carranza said their youngest child also wants to follow their eldest into the Marines.
“I’m a proud Mom,” Rosa Carranza said. “My son is getting an education, and learning respect. He’s doing something with his life.”
Navy Oden players celebrate with the championship trophy after defeating USMC Mohawk to win the fourth annual L.A. Fleet Week military dodgeball tournament on Sunday, May 25, 2025, in San Pedro. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)The family cheered loudly for their Marines, who ended up in second place.
The Marines Mohawks team captain Cpl. Caleb Fleming of Natchez, Miss., said their second place win is incentive to return next year and win big.
The team from the Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut won for team spirit, with trainee Mia Carabajal-Hartog winning the GOAT award for best player.
Last year, about 100,000 people took in Fleet Week activities, including tours of active duty Navy and Coast Guard ships, exhibits of military equipment, a Galley Wars cook-off for “Best Chow” and Military Has Talent competition.
For the winning USS Levin crew, the spoils of victory, a gold trophy cup, will go with them as they enjoy the Expo for the rest of the week.
“We’ve been all over the place, we’ve been to a Dodgers game, a block party and some of us went to Disneyland,” Piazzisi said.
In between games, players and spectators watched flyovers from police and fire helicopters and a parachute drop from the U.S. Navy Leap Frogs parachute team.
Capt. Stephen Hinds from Camp Pendleton cradles his 3-month-old daughter, Athena, at L.A. Fleet Week on Sunday, May 25, 2025, in San Pedro. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)Piazzisi’s crewmate, Petty Officer Shawn White, who was born in Long Beach and was happy to return victorious to his neigborhood, said he is savoring “the vibe, everyone is having fun and people are giving you love.”
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Leaps and bounds: LA Fleet Week’s dodgeball battle crowns new champion )
Also on site :
- '90s 'Dawson's Creek' Heartthrob, 53, Nearly Unrecognizable in 'Van Life' Video
- Why is Africa seeing a rise in mining accidents and exploitation?
- Awkward! Tom Brady Gets Booed At Indy 500