This past summer, the movie Tag came out. It’s about a group of friends who would play a lifelong game of tag. It’s actually based on a true story and all the friends are still playing in their old age. So when Justin Willis had seen the movie, he had a great idea for when he got back on campus for fall football camp. He decided that he would get a bunch of the guys on the team to play along with him. I am also apart of this game and have enjoyed every minute of playing. Just like how the cross country team is playing assassin, I think that they both bring together people who you wouldn’t think you would have a relationship or any interaction with. So with that, let’s see how Willis wanted to bring a group of guys together to play a simple game and also hear from Mark Barigye who is also apart of the game, give his thoughts on what its like to be a part of something special.
Willis knew that having a game like this would attract more people. When it first started off at camp, only a couple people and myself were involved but as the weeks grew you could get the interest of other people who would spectate. “I just wanted like a close group of friends so basically just like maybe like four to five people, but as people saw I was playing more guys actually wanting to buy in and I thought ‘oh you know, it was pretty cool to like have like a whole team, like a whole group, a bigger group of people play so I’ll let them join in.’ It’s been pretty successful so far from since we started planning.” Since its a game there has to be a set of rules in place to keep the order and not be so disorganized. Basically everything is all game except for a couple of instances. “Since we’re still in football season, the only time was the game is off limits is when its pregame meals and throughout game time and immediately after the game is over then tag is back on, but other than that that’s the only time when it’s limited or when a person is asleep or there’s an emergency going on, but other then that its free game. So you could be using a restroom and someone’s allowed to come in the stall and tag you, its free game everywhere you go.” Even though Willis would like to be like the character in the movie where he never gets tagged, sometimes people get the best of us.
“Mark is really creative when it comes to tag me. He knows how to sneak up on me. So that’s been a couple, a couple of times where I got away from him, but for me I think is when we’re in the union and he was trying to tag me. I jumped over the couch and took off outside and came into the union to get my food and knowing I need my food and took my food away from me, I try to be sneaky and pull like a desk back to I get my food and I think his cup like split over all over his girlfriend Kallie’s phone. So therefore I kind of just took the L and got tagged because I had to clean up the mess that I made trying to avoid getting tagged.”
To hear what Barigye has to say about tag, he says, “its bigger than being just a game brings everyone together and this is kind of a light fun thing that we all get involved in, especially being football players and being college athletes, there’s a lot of stress and pressure in your life to get homework done to get stuff done on the field, in the weight room. So tag is just kinda like a fun way that we just were able to relax I guess in a way, build memories and stuff like that.”
Sometimes a simple game can make a bigger than you think. Doing something like this means, no matter how big or small it is, can make a lasting impact on whoever.
Media By: Dylan Goodyear
