Amateur athletes and water-lovers will find something for both of them at the Veishea walk-in tournaments on Welch Ave. Friday and Saturday.

Brad Essick, tournaments co-chairman and senior in agricultural business, said the tournaments will be located at the Welch Avenue Post Office, DaVinci’s and the Pizza Pit parking lot.

A long-standing Veishea tradition, Essick said the tournaments have been going on “ever since I’ve been here.”

The games have traditionally been at the post office, but Essick said the committee decided to add sites at DaVinci’s and Pizza Pit to reward the businesses for their help.

Mostly students and younger children have participated in the tournaments in the past, he said.

“We have a lot of younger kids, especially after the parade,” Essick said. “We’re really pushing that.”

A celebrity dunk tank will be a new event for Veishea 1998. At press time, Essick said he had not received confirmation from any celebrities, but planned to have two people in the booth during the afternoon.

Essick said the dunk tank had been added to the walk-in tournaments to attract more people on Welch Avenue.

“We want to try to get more people out,” he said. “It’s right after the parade when people are going back to Welch.”

The dunk tank will operate Saturday afternoon after the parade until approximately 6 p.m., he said.

Other walk-in tournaments include a basketball throw, football throw, golf putting contest and a “Slam & Jam Dunk” contest.

Judges from the athletic department will be on hand to rate the contestant’s slam dunks. Essick said judges would include two members of the men’s basketball team, two members of the women’s basketball team, and two members of the football team along with one coach.

Essick did not know which athletes would be judging as of press time.

Walk-in tournaments require no registration, and cost $1 to participate, he said. Prizes will be awarded on an individual basis, as well as for the best participant in certain areas.

“At the baseball throw, they’ll throw twice, and for the third throw they have to guess their speed to get a prize,” Essick said.

In addition to the walk-in tournaments on Friday and Saturday, games will also be going on through the week. Essick said registration for these additional tournaments draws a wide variety of students.

“It’s been random groups,” he said. “There’s a lot of off-campus students because they don’t really get involved in Greek Week or Homecoming like the greek system does, so they really jump at the chance.”

The walk-in tournaments on Welch Avenue will run from approximately 4 p.m. until 8 p.m. on Friday, and after the parade until 8 p.m. on Saturday.