Dodgeball

Who knew throwing around Nerf balls could be so much fun?

JERRAD ST. GERMAIN

“Dodge, duck, dip, dive, and duck” These are the classic “5 Ds” from the highly popular movie Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. In the movie, Dodgeball is depicted as the game that most of us remember playing. It was one of those games that most people either loved to play, or really hated. As memorable as this game is to those who played it in their youth, it is, at the same time, a game that most of us have forgotten about. After all, it’s not exactly one of those games one plays casually with friends, as, say, shooting hoops. This past winter, however, I set out to change all that for me and a small group of friends. I decided to make a dodgeball team, and looking back it was one of the best things I did over the winter months to stay in shape and have a good time with friends.

My dodgeball season started coincidentally one day, when I saw a poster advertised for the league in the hallways of university looking for dodgeball players. “Co-ed dodgeball”: those few simple words were all that I needed to say in order to get a bunch of my friends off the couch and play this long lost game from our youth.

But what were the rules, we wondered?

Perhaps this is the beauty of dodgeball; as fun as we all remember it being, it was the simplicity of the game that made it so special. Rules can vary from league to league but most rules can be covered by watching the movie itself.

1. Once a player is hit with the ball the player is out of the match.

2. If a player catches a ball, the player who threw the ball is out of the match, and a player from the team that caught the ball can rejoin the match.

3. Players may only hold on to one ball at a time.

4. Players have 10 seconds to throw or pass the ball; failing to do so, they must give the ball to the other team.

5. Once a team only has one player remaining, the opposing team has one minute to eliminate that player. Failing to do so after one minute, another player may rejoin the match.

These are five basic rules of intramural dodgeball, and as simple as this sounds it is one of those games that surprises people at the amount of fun and the intense workout one can get from playing.

Dodgeball is a game that almost anyone can play regardless of age and skill level and have lots of fun-filled action. The league that my team competed in was filled with players of all skill levels, and although we didn’t win in the end, I think we had the most fun. Some of us had stronger throwing skills, and there were some of us who were better at dodging or catching. In the end, however, it really didn’t matter because the games were so much fun that both teams would have their benches cheering loudly just like I remembered.

That was perhaps one of the reason I was drawn back to the sport; the nostalgia of taking me back to my youth. Dodgeball leagues are all over the place as the game is growing in popularity.

The University of Manitoba recreation service has teams in the fall and winter, and the Winnipeg recreational league has a new spring season about to begin. Whatever your fitness or skill level I suggest you make an effort to join a dodgeball team: it’s a game that will give you a surprisingly good workout, and you’ll have a great time with friends