There are few things that separate boys from men: responsibility, facial hair, and how far he can chuck a pumpkin. This is a story about the last one.
“Punkin chunkin” has been around since the historic day when a man wanted to move a pumpkin but didn’t want to carry it.
Recently, however, pumpkin chuckin’ has begun to evolve with people using catapults, trebuchets, and air cannons to reach maximum chuck which has helped popularize the sport.
World Championship Punkin Chunkin (WCPC) is the National Championship for the sport. It is held annually, during the first full weekend after Halloween in Sussex County, Delaware. Pumpkin Chucking is one of the few things that comes from Delaware that people like.
The rules are simple; you get three chances to chuck your pumpkin as far as you can. The goal is to have the longest shot in your category (trebuchets, air cannons, or catapult). Recent winners have been able to chuck their pumpkins over 3,000 feet.
These winners include the Big 10”, Hormone Blaster, and The Second Amendment Too. These monuments of man’s glory have helped pioneer the sport.
The sport is definitely going main stream with the WCPC being broadcast on the science channel and more people attending the event. It will probably not be very long until boys all around the country are playing with their own Little Pumpkin Blasters.
Now, WS needs this sport to help encourage leadership, engineering, and teamwork. That is why I propose that WS have its own Punkin Chunkin tournament.
I know what you’re thinking, how are we going to get that many pumpkins? Well, instead of pumpkins, we can just use the freshmen; they’re about the same weight.
Also, they can be used over and over again so we don’t have to waste money on all of those pumpkins. It will help the freshmen too. It’s (not really) known that nothing builds character like being shot out of an air cannon with no safety equipment.
While actually launching underclassmen from cannons might not be the safest idea, the fact of the matter is that chucking pumpkins is a great way to start a fun community event that could be entirely unique in Virginia.
The fact of the matter is that WS has to bring in this new sport. Who knows, if we get lucky WS might have a good sports program because no other school is doing it.