New club sports director Kristofer DeJesus spent his teenage years playing dodgeball every Friday evening. A decade later, he now has back-to-back national team titles and an international bronze medal in the sport.
At the height of his dodgeball career, DeJesus competed at the 2022 World Dodgeball Championships for Team USA, earning a bronze medal finish out of 14 countries. The team – a group made of the nation’s top dodgeball athletes – fell short of Teams Austria and Great Britain.
That same year and the following, DeJesus’ team, Anarchy, won two national championships in USA Dodgeball’s Premier Tour.
“It’s kind of a cool story of all the work that we put in over the years,” DeJesus said. “I reached a goal of making Team USA, reached a goal of winning a national championship and did that twice.”
DeJesus was first introduced to dodgeball after a friend invited him to a local church’s youth group.
“I think it started as a way to get kids to come in and have an activity to do that wouldn’t get them in trouble on a Friday night,” DeJesus explained, adding that he is still friends with many of the people he met through the program.
In addition to dodgeball, DeJesus played a variety of other sports growing up including football, track and field, lacrosse and taekwondo.
“I played other sports competitively on varsity, but nothing quite compared to dodgeball, so I ended up playing dodgeball at that church for years until I went to college,” DeJesus said.
His dodgeball days were far from over, however. Not long into college, DeJesus began to miss the sport.
“When I went to college, I was like, ‘Man, what am I to do without playing dodgeball?’” DeJesus said. “So I started a dodgeball club at Stevenson University there as a freshman and got people to join.”
The small club grew in size. Not long after its creation, the organization officially joined the National Collegiate Dodgeball Association, which provides an organized league for college dodgeball teams to participate in tournaments around the country.
Transitioning from recreational dodgeball to the sport’s highest form of competition proved a challenge for DeJesus. As the competition level increased, so did the importance of strategy.
“Staying alive is important,” DeJesus explained. “Don’t risk yourself for a big play to look cool when you can stay alive and still be on the court. Dodgeball is a numbers game.”
DeJesus also noted the importance of ball control.
“When teams first join dodgeball, a lot of teams just end up throwing all the balls away, and then now they have no balls to defend themselves or block with,” DeJesus said.
Working on these skills ultimately drew the attention of international dodgeball scouts, earning him a spot on Team USA after attending tryouts.
In the last year, DeJesus has chosen to focus more on his professional career in higher education recreational sports. After working as a campus recreation intern during his last year of undergrad, DeJesus knew he wanted to combine his passion for organized sports and mentorship.
In July 2024, DeJesus joined the college’s recreation center as the new associate director for intramural and club sports. Before coming to Lafayette, he previously worked in a similar role at Mount St. Mary’s University.
“He asks great questions and he’s great to work with,” Director of Recreation Services Jodie Frey said via a voice memo. “He’s really trying to blend his previous experiences with Lafayette students and our structure.”
Looking toward the future, DeJesus is excited to work with such an extensive network of sports programs.
“This is a really cool opportunity to be able to do more and learn more about sports clubs,” DeJesus said. “I was really excited to join such a robust sports program.”
