The 2015 Tetherball World Championships are coming to Stapleton this spring and are being hosted by Isabella Bird Elementary School. The Stapleton School won the bid over cities including Houston, Istanbul (Turkey), Bogota (Columbia) and Johannesburg (South Africa) among others. “In the end, the area offered all the things we were looking for,” said Tetherball Committee chairman Joe Buenger. “It was close to the airport, they are building brand new, state of the art Tetherball courts, and there are plenty of hotels to accommodate the numbers we are expecting.”
Originally, some residents questioned how Isabella Bird was using their giant space. “I was thinking, ‘do they really need three tetherball courts’?” asked resident Doug Clinton. “I don’t think most kids know the actual rules to tetherball, so I didn’t think it was necessary.” Chairman Buenger disagrees. “Tetherball is the nation’s fastest growing sport,” said Buenger. “No one plays baseball anymore, and kids and parents are getting scared out of football. So what’s left are a bunch of hodge-podge catch-all sports like tetherball. We think it will be a high school sport by 2020.” There are some residents who are not happy about the World Championships coming to their neighborhood. “How is it going to affect traffic?” said Amy Steiner. “Where are they going to park? Where will the television cameras be placed? Will the playground still be open, or will the whole school be shut down? These are the kind of things residents have a right to know.”
Host Isabella Bird says they will do everything they can to make sure local residents are not inconvenienced. “This will be a great event, and the area residents do not need to be concerned about having any major discomforts,” said local project leader Owen Dinnebier. “We have confidence in our plans and in the crew to get this job done so that it is a tremendous event with little impact on local residents.” Dinnebier also says that the team is ahead of schedule in regards to construction and other preparation. “We will be ready for the games. This is not going to be another Sochi or have any of the issues Brazil had for the World Cup. We will be ready.” The games will be held May 18th through the 24th with male and female divisions with several age groups. For tickets, just show up, as they are not expecting very many fans.
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