Men’s Volleyball, for a Cause

Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) at Fair Grove hosted Manpuff on November 16th in the high school gym.

Manpuff is an event where the students in FBLA and DECA create volleyball teams and coaches that play in a tournament against each other to determine the champion this year. But there’s a twist. The coaches are volleyball players, and any male Fair Grove employee, student and alumni make up the volleyball teams.

Mr. Supancic is the teacher in charge of Manpuff this year. “I am the sponsor and am in charge of helping the student leaders during their planning and preparation process. I order our team trophies and ensure that we have a gym and date scheduled,” he explained.

This event is put on and set up by students. “Manpuff is student let and planned. We have FBLA officers who are in charge of the planning and preparation process. They do everything from selecting themes to organizing volunteer work and setting up tournament schedules. Our officers are also responsible for the collection of money and advertising the event,” stated Supancic.

There are two students that were put in charge of running this event. Those two students are Atticus Brandes (10) and Brigid Woods (11).  Brandes stated that they do most of the work to get things setup, but their sponsors help them out a lot. Woods commented, “Yes, Manpuff is fully put on by FBLA officers and is 2 dollars for the players and a dollar for people to watch.”

This is an event that is not only fun for students, but also a fundraiser. “Manpuff is an event that is organized every year to be a fundraiser for the American Legion post here in Fair Grove. Our proceeds from the event go to the Post and supports their mission to provide for Veterans and their families. Each year we select a theme that reflects these causes, and this year we chose the theme of ‘Real Life Heros.’ Our teams will dress in the theme of Heros as we play and raise money to support the American Legion Post,” Brandes stated. 

He added, “We do Manpuff to have fun, and also get funds to donate to our local community organizations.”

At this event there were 5 teams: Caregivers, All-Stars, The Powerpuff Boys, Knowledge Heros and Playing with Fire. The championship game was between Knowledge Heros, a team made up of teachers coached by Faith Klindworth (11) and Hannah Maxwell (11), and Playing with Fire, which was half alumni and half current students coached by Lauren Thomlinson (12) and Savannah Ipock (11). The champion of this year’s Manpuff was Playing with Fire.