As students play volleyball with friends on a cool fall day, an outsider sees nothing strange about it apart from them playing in the mud. Saturday, Student Activities Council brings you the first event for Shocktoberfest, which includes mud volleyball and mud tug-of-war.

Students who registered by Monday’s deadline will be playing at the Metroplex fields this Saturday beginning at noon.

“Aside from Songfest, it is probably the most popular Shocktober event we have,” SAC member Megan Junk said.

This year will be the 29th time mud volleyball has been played at Wichita State, with mud tug-of-war only being in its 20th year. The price to make a 4-6 person volleyball team this year was $15, and for a maximum of a 10-person team for tug-of-war, it was $10.

There will be Sedgwick county firefighter volunteers who will be hosing down the fields before and after.

In regards to student involvement, Junk said this is the event in which most non-Greeks participate.

“Shocktoberfest is very much seen as a Greek event,” Junk said. “It is not, but it is seen as a Greek event because they are the people that have the most man power and resources, and student groups think they cannot get into it, and mud events and dodgeball are the events most of the non-Greeks get into.”

There are 18 volleyball teams who signed up, which include the women’s and men’s teams and the co-ed group. There are 15 tug-of-war groups as well, including all the divisions.

Junk said that the women’s teams will face each other, as will the men’s and co-ed.

“Yes, there is a possibility that all non-Greek teams could be facing a sorority or fraternity,” Junk said.

One organization member who is excited to take part in the mud events is junior Amy Newsom, who is a member of WSU women’s organization, Gamma Epsilon.

“I’m looking forward to mud events because I’m able to have a fun, active day with my GE sisters while interacting with other sororities and fraternities,” Newsom said. “It’s a fun way of getting to know other people involved in the Greek system.”

The mud events are being held in advance due to the weather, but the rest of the Shocktoberfest events will take place after fall break. Junk said SAC was worried it would be too cold to play in the mud when the rest of the Shocktoberfest events were scheduled.

Another factor in why the Shocktoberfest events weren’t moved up is due to fall break.

“Last year is when they changed fall break from Thursday-Friday to Monday-Tuesday, which means we either had to break it up over two weeks or push it back and have the events a full week, which means we still have Songfest on a Monday,” Junk said.

With the fall break change, SAC had to plan Songfest for a Friday. However, it has always been on a Monday, said Junk.