On Feb. 13th, 2016 there will yet another first at Oakland University — Bear Pong: the Nonalcoholic Social Event.

Bear Pong, a large water pong tournament, will be held in the O’rena after Oakland’s men’s and women’s basketball teams host a double header on the blacktop Saturday afternoon. 

Sign-up begins at 8:30 p.m. and the first game will start at 9:15 p.m., explained senior Bre Reveley. Each team will have two people and the tournament will be double elimination, with rounds lasting 10 minutes. 

“There are going to be door prizes, prizes for first through fourth place, the entry is free,” Reveley said.  

“There will be food and a DJ. There will be a ton going on and it’s going to be an event that you don’t want to miss. The event was created to bridge the gap between between students and student-athletes.” 

Students must have their Grizzly ID card to get into the event and there will be no re-entry. 

The reason this event is being organized is to create a mentality for students to stay on campus, bridge gaps between student organizations, provide a safe and enjoyable environment and strengthen relationships between students, explained Reveley.

Student-athletes, Greek life, club sports and other organizations are partnering with athletics for the event — including the Oakland Post — with the hope that students in these different groups can make connections to other Golden Grizzlies outside of their organization. 

“The goal is to have a fun time and for people to meet new friends and form friendships with people outside of your ‘normal’ group,” Reveley said.  

“We want to make Oakland University a closer community where everyone supports each other whether that’s going to a basketball or soccer game, or going to Greek sponsored event, going to a club Lacrosse game, or just supporting other groups on campus.”

This falls under the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) new ethos of including “innovation, creativity, and forward thinking in regards to mindset and puts great emphasis on being relationship-oriented by providing a welcoming environment” at Oakland University, explained senior and SAAC president Jordan Sargent.

“[SAAC] also adopted this ethos and it became a goal for us to work on taking this mindset out into our Oakland University community, creating relationships with others around us,” Sargent said.

“With that, Bre and I began to think of a way that this goal could become reality, and the idea of Bear Pong was shaped through that source of thinking.”

Anyone is welcome to participate in Bear Pong and even those who don’t want to play water pong are encouraged to come to the event still.

Staff and students can sign up to participate at goldengrizzlies.com under “inside athletics” and “student athletic advisory committee.” The direct link is http://www.goldengrizzlies.com/sports/saac/spec-rel/bear-pong.html. 

“As far as the event itself, I would love to see a lot of people come out, have fun and be able to recommend the event for future years to come,” Sargent said.

“This is the first year that Oakland has done Bear Pong.  I would like to see it grow into a tradition and grow as a whole so that it becomes an event that is well-known and the whole university looks forward to each year.” 

Sign up for the event closes on Feb. 7.