What really goes on in Mr. Parra’s computer science class?

If you’re in the library during A period, you might have seen (or heard) Felipe Parra’s sophomore computer science class “hoopin’.” What started as shooting mini rubber ducks into their phone caddy, has evolved into a new game that is called “Duckball.”

In the beginning of the year, the class started by throwing the mini rubber ducks leftover from the former computer science teacher, Shaheen Matuni, into their phone caddy. Alongside Parra’s classroom window, the ducks are lined up by their color. Parker Pullin ’27 then mentioned that he could bring his extra basketball hoop to hang on the closet door instead.

“It really allowed us to unite and collaborate more and get to know each other,” Zayn Alame ’27 said.

They decided their teams, and a few months later, these practice games turned into tournaments. The teams consist of Lane Bunte ’27 and Michael Head ’27, Parker Pullin ’27 and Ty Williams ’27, and Talu Taflan ’27 and Zayn Alame ’27.

“It was some sorta synergy between the pairs we had selected. It’s hard to explain, but it was almost tangible, the connection,” Head said.

Because a game like this is guaranteed to get out of hand, they had to set rules in place. So, Taflan made a constitution that is hung next to the hoop, signed by each player.

However, the only way Parra would allow this is if they followed his rules. Parra only allows the players 10 minutes at the end of every class if all of their work is done, and they keep the room clean. For tournaments, however, they get the entire class to play.

“They created a whole sport, that’s why it’s awesome, it’s really nice,” Parra said.

The story doesn’t end there though. The class decided to go deeper and really create their own sport. They set up cameras on top of the goal, on the whiteboard, and traded off as cameramen. Taflan used his old YouTube account to regularly edit and post videos, although they’ve stopped because the tournament has ended.

They have an Instagram account that is dedicated to informing followers when the games happen. Despite this, the account has been inactive for months due to conflict within the players.

Taflan uses CapCut to edit and create a highlight reel of their tournament games. His inspiration was sparked when scrolling through TikToks of NBA highlights.

“What if we set up our own league? So to get into that, we had like a couple cameras, we got our phones and we like taped them on the wall and we would just press record for like 10 minutes,” Taflan said.

Taflan would then gather all the footage that they got from each camera, “chop it up” into one video, and just edit from there.

In their first video, titled ‘Duckball Week 6,’ Taflan and Alame played Bunte and Head to decide who plays in the Semi-Finals. Taflan and Alame had a tough loss and had to suffer the wrath of the winners, having been eliminated from the tournament. The ending score was 6-4 in favor of “Lane and ‘Em,” removing “Coach and ‘Em” from the tournament. The team names are just a fun way for the players to talk about the teams.

Taflan is also known as “Coach” because he gave himself the title. He also gives out achievements to the players when he feels like it. For example, Pullin was awarded the “2025 Participation Award” and “Best Actor Award,” and Head was awarded the “Him Award.”

The way that games work is that once one team wins, the winner stays but the loser switches out with the other team waiting to play. They tried switching up the teams once by spinning a wheel, but the energy wasn’t the same.

There is some debate over who is the best team: Head says that the best team is Lane and ‘Em (Head and Bunte) because they have the best team chemistry and won the tournament. However, Taflan thinks that Williams and Bunte are the best players because they are the most athletic out of everyone.

Duckball has provided amazing memories for the players and has created many new friendships and connections.

“The connections we make as teammates really fosters and grows our friendship and brotherhood,” Head said.

“I like it, I think it’s something that they are passionate about. They put their time outside as well… I just love the dedication that they have,” Parra said.

Along with the YouTube account, Taflan made a flag to hang up in the classroom. He bought it from Amazon and customized it to have pictures of all of the players, and it says “Air Pullin.” This is just a funny joke within the players.

Next year, the players will sadly be split up. While many will go on to take AP Computer Science, some will be leaving the pact. However this will not stop the others from continuing their league. The players will carry the impact of this friendship for the rest of their high school years, and hopefully throughout the rest of their lives.