- W
Magnetic Dodgeball™️: “All For Fun, and Fun for All!”
Reinventing a favorite schoolyard game for outer space, the Eight Magneteers, a team of fourth and fifth graders from St. Louis Catholic School in Pittsford, NY has been selected from more than 40,000 teams worldwide as one of 20 semi-finalists advancing to the Ninth Annual FIRST® LEGO® League Global Innovation Award in San Jose, Calif., USA, June 30-July 2.
The Eight Magneteers developed a solution to the problem of astronauts maintaining physical, mental, and emotional health on long-duration space flights. Magnetic Dodgeball™️ is a fast-paced game that uses both the properties of magnets and microgravity in space to improve astronaut fitness, flexibility, and mental focus.
In San Jose, the team will be involved in hands-on events - collaborating with other student innovators, learning to pitch their solution to investors, and showcasing their solution to a judging panel. They will also be trained as official Lego Innovation Ambassadors, so they can inspire others locally to follow their dreams. The top three teams at the event will also receive funding to further develop their product.
Our team is small, but our dreams are big. We are looking for financial help as we raise funds to develop a prototype of our Magnetic Dodgeball™️ gear and to cover the cost of bringing the team to the event. Any funds raised over our goal will be put toward further testing of Magnetic Dodgeball™️ and bringing it to market. Unused funds will be donated to the Science and Technology departments at St. Louis School to develop future innovators. Will you help us reach for the stars?
We are so thankful for your consideration and any amount you can provide to support our team!

Our Journey
The Eight Magneteers were formed at the start of the 2018-2019 school year, one of two FIRST LEGO teams at Saint Louis School. The challenge of the year was to come up with an innovative solution to the problems presented by long term space travel. When we learned that astronauts on the International Space Station need to exercise on a treadmill for up to two hours a day just to maintain muscle mass, we thought, “That’s NO FUN! We can do better than that!” We began an energetic brainstorming process to find the most fun thing to do in space that could also help astronauts stay fit. One question led to another as we tried to figure out, “How could you play dodgeball in space, without gravity?”
“The idea was totally student-led,” said Head Coach Brett Mancini. “When they first proposed the idea to me, I thought it was their way of having an excuse to throw things at each other in space, but they came up with a solution that addressed many different issues. We all ended up loving the idea.”
Probably most adults would never think up an idea like Magnetic Dodgeball™️, and probably a lot of coaches would have encouraged their team to come up with a more serious idea. But our coaches just got excited about our idea and kept asking questions about how it would work.
Magnets seemed like a good way to help astronauts play dodgeball in space because they work regardless of gravity and could provide resistance to help build muscle mass. As we learned more about how magnets work, we created the suit, gear, and rules of Magnetic Dodgeball™️.
· We designed magnetized suits and balls that can either repel or attract, depending on the polarity of the magnet. Different parts of the suits are color coded to the polarity of the magnets embedded in them. Each suit has one red arm, one blue arm, one red leg, one blue leg, and a purple trunk.
· There are several balls, also color coded by the polarity of the magnets inside them. The red ball will stick to the blue parts of the suit and be repelled by the red parts. The blue ball will stick to the red parts of the suit and be repelled by the blue parts. There’s also a purple ball has both polarities and will stick to the entire suit.
· The trunk of the suit is purple and has both polarities embedded in it (so your trunk and back are always a target, and you will stick to yourself if you aren’t careful!).
· The hands are not magnetized so that you can use your hands to catch the balls.
· We came up with many different versions of Magnetic Dodgeball™️ using different combinations of the balls. This way the astronauts can always have a fun new challenge when they play.
We could not have been successful without help! We would like to express our sincere thanks to two doctors from Mayo Clinic’s Section of Aerospace Medicine within the Division of Preventive, Occupational and Aerospace Medicine on the Rochester, Minnesota campus. Dr. Robert Haddon has worked at NASA with the ISS Astronaut Crews and Dr. Michael Harrison is an Aerospace Medicine Fellow and researcher. As we have developed Magnetic Dodgeball, they have shared their knowledge, expertise and enthusiasm with our team. We think they are "out of this world!"
We learned from them that taking care of mental and emotional health in space is just as important as taking care of physical health. Boredom and depression can be big problems when you are in space for a long time. When you are really bored or depressed you can lose focus, and for astronauts a lack of focus can lead to dangerous mistakes. Magnetic Dodgeball™️ makes you think fast as you make quick decisions about which limb to use to try to deflect the balls thrown at you. It improves mental clarity and also provides positive, fun social interaction among crew members. Magnetic Dodgeball™️ is great for your body, your brain, and your mood!
We thought that NASA’s inflatable modules for the space station would provide a great location to play Magnetic Dodgeball™️, possibly incorporating magnetized walls into the game.
Our Idea Takes Off!
When we showed up for our local FIRST LEGO League competition day in November, we were there to have a great time and hoped our LEGO robot would perform well. We had so much fun sharing our idea for Magnetic Dodgeball™️ with the judges and getting to interact with the other teams. We loved sharing our team motto: “All for Fun, and Fun for All!” We even got to lead a conga line during the closing celebration! We never thought we would advance to the regionals, and we were SO SURPRISED when we found out that we won the best project award and advanced to regional tournament!

Things were even more crazy at the regional competition in December! There were so many teams there from all over New York State. Most of them were much older than we were and had a lot more experience competing. We knew we just needed to show up with all our positive team energy and let the idea of Magnetic Dodgeball™️ shine. We were stunned when the judges selected us for the Global Innovation Award! We were so proud of all we’d accomplished this season, but we knew we were now competing in a very large pool of teams from all over the world. We figured our season was over. Here's a video of us doing our team cheer that day:

Imagine how excited we were to get the news in April that our idea had been chosen as one of the TOP TWENTY ideas globally! It’s a once-in-a-lifetime dream come true to have this chance to take our idea to the next level and hopefully see it come to life in space one day!

Reinventing a favorite schoolyard game for outer space, the Eight Magneteers, a team of fourth and fifth graders from St. Louis Catholic School in Pittsford, NY has been selected from more than 40,000 teams worldwide as one of 20 semi-finalists advancing to the Ninth Annual FIRST® LEGO® League Global Innovation Award in San Jose, Calif., USA, June 30-July 2.
The Eight Magneteers developed a solution to the problem of astronauts maintaining physical, mental, and emotional health on long-duration space flights. Magnetic Dodgeball™️ is a fast-paced game that uses both the properties of magnets and microgravity in space to improve astronaut fitness, flexibility, and mental focus.
In San Jose, the team will be involved in hands-on events - collaborating with other student innovators, learning to pitch their solution to investors, and showcasing their solution to a judging panel. They will also be trained as official Lego Innovation Ambassadors, so they can inspire others locally to follow their dreams. The top three teams at the event will also receive funding to further develop their product.
Our team is small, but our dreams are big. We are looking for financial help as we raise funds to develop a prototype of our Magnetic Dodgeball™️ gear and to cover the cost of bringing the team to the event. Any funds raised over our goal will be put toward further testing of Magnetic Dodgeball™️ and bringing it to market. Unused funds will be donated to the Science and Technology departments at St. Louis School to develop future innovators. Will you help us reach for the stars?
We are so thankful for your consideration and any amount you can provide to support our team!
 Our Journey
The Eight Magneteers were formed at the start of the 2018-2019 school year, one of two FIRST LEGO teams at Saint Louis School. The challenge of the year was to come up with an innovative solution to the problems presented by long term space travel. When we learned that astronauts on the International Space Station need to exercise on a treadmill for up to two hours a day just to maintain muscle mass, we thought, “That’s NO FUN! We can do better than that!” We began an energetic brainstorming process to find the most fun thing to do in space that could also help astronauts stay fit. One question led to another as we tried to figure out, “How could you play dodgeball in space, without gravity?”
“The idea was totally student-led,” said Head Coach Brett Mancini. “When they first proposed the idea to me, I thought it was their way of having an excuse to throw things at each other in space, but they came up with a solution that addressed many different issues. We all ended up loving the idea.”
Probably most adults would never think up an idea like Magnetic Dodgeball™️, and probably a lot of coaches would have encouraged their team to come up with a more serious idea. But our coaches just got excited about our idea and kept asking questions about how it would work.
Magnets seemed like a good way to help astronauts play dodgeball in space because they work regardless of gravity and could provide resistance to help build muscle mass. As we learned more about how magnets work, we created the suit, gear, and rules of Magnetic Dodgeball™️.
· We designed magnetized suits and balls that can either repel or attract, depending on the polarity of the magnet. Different parts of the suits are color coded to the polarity of the magnets embedded in them. Each suit has one red arm, one blue arm, one red leg, one blue leg, and a purple trunk.
· There are several balls, also color coded by the polarity of the magnets inside them. The red ball will stick to the blue parts of the suit and be repelled by the red parts. The blue ball will stick to the red parts of the suit and be repelled by the blue parts. There’s also a purple ball has both polarities and will stick to the entire suit.
· The trunk of the suit is purple and has both polarities embedded in it (so your trunk and back are always a target, and you will stick to yourself if you aren’t careful!).
· The hands are not magnetized so that you can use your hands to catch the balls.
· We came up with many different versions of Magnetic Dodgeball™️ using different combinations of the balls. This way the astronauts can always have a fun new challenge when they play.
We could not have been successful without help! We would like to express our sincere thanks to two doctors from Mayo Clinic’s Section of Aerospace Medicine within the Division of Preventive, Occupational and Aerospace Medicine on the Rochester, Minnesota campus. Dr. Robert Haddon has worked at NASA with the ISS Astronaut Crews and Dr. Michael Harrison is an Aerospace Medicine Fellow and researcher. As we have developed Magnetic Dodgeball, they have shared their knowledge, expertise and enthusiasm with our team. We think they are "out of this world!"
We learned from them that taking care of mental and emotional health in space is just as important as taking care of physical health. Boredom and depression can be big problems when you are in space for a long time. When you are really bored or depressed you can lose focus, and for astronauts a lack of focus can lead to dangerous mistakes. Magnetic Dodgeball™️ makes you think fast as you make quick decisions about which limb to use to try to deflect the balls thrown at you. It improves mental clarity and also provides positive, fun social interaction among crew members. Magnetic Dodgeball™️ is great for your body, your brain, and your mood!
We thought that NASA’s inflatable modules for the space station would provide a great location to play Magnetic Dodgeball™️, possibly incorporating magnetized walls into the game.
Our Idea Takes Off!
When we showed up for our local FIRST LEGO League competition day in November, we were there to have a great time and hoped our LEGO robot would perform well. We had so much fun sharing our idea for Magnetic Dodgeball™️ with the judges and getting to interact with the other teams. We loved sharing our team motto: “All for Fun, and Fun for All!” We even got to lead a conga line during the closing celebration! We never thought we would advance to the regionals, and we were SO SURPRISED when we found out that we won the best project award and advanced to regional tournament!

Things were even more crazy at the regional competition in December! There were so many teams there from all over New York State. Most of them were much older than we were and had a lot more experience competing. We knew we just needed to show up with all our positive team energy and let the idea of Magnetic Dodgeball™️ shine. We were stunned when the judges selected us for the Global Innovation Award! We were so proud of all we’d accomplished this season, but we knew we were now competing in a very large pool of teams from all over the world. We figured our season was over. Here's a video of us doing our team cheer that day:
Imagine how excited we were to get the news in April that our idea had been chosen as one of the TOP TWENTY ideas globally! It’s a once-in-a-lifetime dream come true to have this chance to take our idea to the next level and hopefully see it come to life in space one day!
Co-organizers8
Laurie Martin
Beneficiary