Two teams emerged from the darkness at Piper Park, one illuminated with green glow sticks and the other bathed in red. A small fire pit gave some light and warmth to spectators as members of both teams raced through the trees, across the volleyball pit, and over the empty field in search of the other team’s flag.

The teams were participating in a game of glow-in-the-dark capture-the-flag, the first event held by Friday Night Live, a club which aims to offer alternatives to underage drinking. The club drew 55 people to the capture-the-flag game on Jan. 11.

Students of all grades came to the event, and according to club president Grace Gravley, senior, the attendance was far greater than expected, considering only 17 guests had RSVP’d to the event on Facebook.

“It completely blew me away how many kids showed up,” Gravley said.

Of the 55 students in attendance, 23 were freshmen, 13 were sophomores, five were juniors, and 14 were seniors.

Isabel Gerber, freshman, said she was surprised that there were so many seniors at the event.

“I thought nobody was going to be there, and I didn’t expect anybody but freshmen to really show up,” Gerber said. “But it ended up that there were a lot more people from different grades there.”

Advisor Jon Hirsch said the attendance levels and grade diversity were crucial to the success of this first event.

“It definitely met our hopes and expectations, especially considering this was our first event,” Hirsch said. “We learned a lot about what worked and what needs to change for the future. Overall, we were really pleased with the turnout, the enthusiasm, and the vibe.”

The turnout perhaps could have been higher, but the club decided to make the game an invitation-only event, with club members inviting two or three friends and Hirsch announcing the event to his Social Issues classes.

“We decided to do the invitation system because this was our first event, and we wanted to keep it under control, keep it manageable,” Gravley said. “We also wanted to make sure that the people who showed up wouldn’t show up under the influence. Controlling that made a safer environment and allowed us to know what to be expecting with the students.”

The environment was also kept safe by the presence of two police cars and two officers. Hirsch collaborated with the Twin Cities Police through the Twin Cities Coalition For Healthy Youth, a committee set up in response to reports on Marin’s unusually high rate of teen binge drinking.

“[The Twin Cities Coalition] have provided a tremendous amount of support, both economically and by volunteering their time,” Hirsch said.

Gravley said that the presence of officers helps encourage students to show up sober to the club’s events.

“It’s pretty easy to tell when one of your peers or your friends are drunk,” Gravley said. “We work in close ties with the police department, and while we’ll never have an officer just out to get kids, they’ll be there to support us if there’s ever a problem with people showing up under the influence.”

While club members said they do not want students showing up to events drunk, they do not intend for Friday Night Live to become a sobriety club, according to Hirsch.

“One of the things that would concern me most in the long run is if this does become in any way the kind of thing where only the people who are already sober 24/7 do, because that defeats our purpose, to a degree,” Hirsch said.

According to Gravley, convincing students to forsake weekend drinking is difficult.

“Here in Marin, there’s this mentality where it’s 8:00 at night, no parties to go to, and so kids decide, ‘Well, let’s just get drunk,’” Gravley said. “Or there might be parties to go to, and they still just go get drunk. We’re creating opportunities for students to do as an alternative to drinking, but we can’t make them come.”

Gravley said that the club will continue to plan and host events, and said that there will be about three more events during this semester, possibly including a bowling night or casino night aboard the Tiburon ferry.

No matter the event chosen, Gerber said that she will probably go.

“I’d go to an event like this again, especially if my friends went too,” Gerber said. “It was a fun experience.”

With support from the students and the Twin Cities Coalition, Hirsch said he is confident that the club can make a difference.

“We are in this in the long run to create an accepted alternative to binge drinking, but that takes a lot of time, a lot of patience, and a lot of emotional investment in being open-minded,” Hirsch said. “This is only the beginning of that, but with the continued support of our club and the Twin Cities coalition, it won’t be the last.”

Hirsch said he urges all students with ideas for events to meet with the Friday Night Live club on Tuesdays at lunch in Rm. 282.