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Nearly 300 people on 26 teams took to the courts at the second annual Dodging Diabetes, a daylong dodgeball tournament to raise money for diabetes research held on Sunday at Bethesda’s Landon School.

Dressed in his headband and Hawaiian shorts, Lowe jumped slightly as an errant ball slammed into the bleachers.

‘‘Look at this, you’ve got guys teams and girls teams, you’ve got people in costume,” he said. ‘‘This is great!”

Lowe’s enthusiasm stemmed from more than just a love of the game. The Bethesda bartender was diagnosed two years ago with Type 1 diabetes — a condition usually diagnosed in children and young adults where the body does not produce insulin.

‘‘Oh, we’re having a great time,” he said, ‘‘and it’s all for a good cause.”

The tournament, founded by two women with diabetic brothers, raised more than $6,000 for the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston.

The center hosts a summer camp for diabetic youth, and it was the inspiration for Anna Tiedeman, 28, an event founder.

Her brother Andy Tiedeman was diagnosed with diabetes at 15 years old.

‘‘The camp is incredible. ...You learn so much about living with diabetes and how to take care of yourself, it really had an impact on me,” he said as a ball whizzed past him.

Last year, Anna Tiedeman decided to organize a fundraiser for Joslin and the first Dodging Diabetes tournament was born.

‘‘Ultimately when I came back from grad school, I knew that I wanted to do something big for the cause,” she said.

Inspired by the 2004 movie ‘‘Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story,” she knew the game could be the center of a fun fundraiser. She wanted an event that attracted her peers and required neither athletic prowess, nor formal wear.

‘‘Everyone does a 5K, but I just decided that I wanted to do something different and attract a younger demographic,” Tiedeman said. Races and dinners just don’t attract the ‘‘20- and 30-somethings out there that still want to help out.”

As it turned out, her mother shared a Joslin connection with Johanna Kramer, who knew that her daughter Elizabeth would be able to help Tiedeman plan a tournament.

Elizabeth Kramer, 29, had planning experience from organizing races in North Carolina, and with Tiedeman’s idea of a dodgeball tournament, the duo set out finding teams, sponsors and a gym in just a few months. However, they shared a connection beyond the tournament. Kramer’s younger brother David, 25, was diagnosed with diabetes at 12 years old.

‘‘Everyone comes up to us [at the tournament] and pretty much says my friend or my grandmother has diabetes,” Kramer said on Thursday. ‘‘Everyone has a parent or knows a friend who was diabetic.”

Planning the tournament was significantly easier the second time around.

‘‘We did a ton of legwork last year,” she said. ‘‘But we’ve walked into restaurants for prizes and people knew who we were and what we were doing.”

With a whole year to plan, rather than four months, the women had time to increase the playing field, which swelled from word-of-mouth momentum as 14 teams expanded to 26.

Ginger Holden and Kimberly Scott of the Insulin Dependant 2 team said they came to support their friend, Lowe.

‘‘It’s fun, it’s athletic and it’s all for good cause,” Holden said.

Proceeds increased nearly $2,000 from last year’s inaugural tournament and Joslin representatives, who also played on a team, said they were blown away by the support.

The Joslin Diabetes Center, founded in 1898, is a nonprofit affiliated with Harvard Medical School.