Schools throw a wrench at dodgeball

Palm Beach Post ^ | 6/18/04 | Aime Palmer

[qam1]

The sting of a red rubber dodgeball, the shame of being the first struck out, the rapture in being the last player standing.

Though nostalgic Baby Boomers and a subsequent generation might recall sensations such as these, children in Palm Beach and Martin County schools might not have the chance.

"Not as long as I can help it," said Kevin Sterling, program planner for physical education for Palm Beach County grades K-12. "It's an extremely aggressive, dangerous game."

Dodgeball is not officially banned in Martin County, according to Delores Calloway, the director of school improvement and curriculum for the Martin County School District. But it has been banned in Palm Beach County schools for about 10 to 15 years, Sterling said.

Sterling said he cannot recall any serious injuries resulting from the game in Palm Beach County, but he said there have been many minor injuries. And he thinks dodgeball is an unhealthy form of physical education.

"I think it definitely has a negative effect on the self-esteem. We can do much more productive things," he said.

At Hidden Oaks Middle School in Stuart, the days of dodgeball ended three years ago. But Principal Jenny Lambdin said the kids might be missing out.

"I know when I grew up we played it on the playground, and I always had fun, but... I know times have changed," she said. "I think that there are certain students that maybe other kids like to pick on; they might just throw the ball to hit them.... They don't have a lot of sensitivity sometimes."

Sandra Brown has been principal at Belvedere Elementary School in West Palm Beach for three years and says no balls have been -- or will be -- dodged under her watch.

"I prefer not to have anything thrown at children," she said, adding that the physical education curriculum has many ball-handling activities for children to prepare them for sports such as baseball and basketball.

But organizations such as the International Dodge-Ball Federation are working to bring dodgeball back into the mainstream and back on the playgrounds.

After learning about IDBF online, Larry Self of New Smyrna Beach, 55, was so nostalgic for his dodgeball days at Davidson High School in Mobile, Ala., that he agreed to work full time as the federation's Florida commissioner without pay.

"It was exciting, and it had a thrill element to it that other sports didn't seem to have. It was this excitement, and the fear of being put out," he said. "You really wanted to be the last one standing."

New equipment and strictly sanctioned rule books are making for safer play, and Self plans to meet with public school officials and city parks and recreation departments in an attempt to bring the childhood pastime America loves to hate back into mainstream children's sports.

"(The new balls have) a fabric cover and only weigh 2 to 3 pounds, so you can throw it hard and hit somebody with it, and it's not going to leave any abrasions or anything like that," Self said. "We want to eliminate any fears about the way it was played in the past."

[JakeSladder]

"Sandra Brown has been principal at Belvedere Elementary School in West Palm Beach for three years and says no balls have been -- or will be -- dodged under her watch."

LOL..allright Sandra..

[Ben Chad]

Where did all the dodgeball losers go? Into teaching apparently.

[Dominick]

Smear the queer was fun too.

I used to love that when I was young. I lived in a rural northern city asa youth in the 1960s near Utica, NY.
We used to play with a tiny football, a swarm of boys running after the kid with the ball. We also played snowball dodge, where boys would run across a wall and avoid the gauntlet of flying snowballs.
When I moved to Miami, I brought one and was told that wasn't a good game for the playground. They never did much with snowballs either. When you had the ball, you were the center of attention, and it was a great esteem builder.

[golas1964]

Just one more example of why public education should be abolished... Just privatize all of it. Let the parents decide what ideology is taught, not government. Everyone gets their own private school choice, and Charles Darwin does the rest...

[JamesA]

Mr. Kevin Sterling must be a total limpwrist. The game of dodgeball is fun and I bet he never played.

[woofer]

We didn't use any "no-marks" soft balls. We used heavy basketballs blown up so hard they went 'ping' every time you bounced them. Hard as rocks. No one died. Plenty were humiliated.

Same here, but we did it in high school gym on rainy days. Called it "pins". Each team had two bowling pins to protect by posting a 'goalie' in front of the pin on his knees. The goalie was immune from ball strikes while all other rules for dodge ball were in place. First team of 40 to knock both of the other team's pins over won.

Alot of personal issues were worked out in this game. It was almost as exciting to play as "Commando Basketball". Full contact football played on a basketball court, object was to get the ball into and through the net. I once got creamed on a rebound attempt that required smelling salts to wake me up.

[Don Corleone]

The AFT union! Building a nation of French Type loosers!

[Hat-Trick]

Let's get rid of the 3 strikes you're out rule.

I agree. And while we're at it, I'll advocate removing the defensemen from the blueline and the goalie from in front of the net.

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

I totally forgot about that game! I was a fast kid and enjoyed making all the slow kids look stupid trying to catch me.

[11th Earl of Mar]

I suppose you don't approve of 'smear the queer.'

[Hat-Trick]

The systematic removal of testosterone from our way of life continues, unabated.

[Puppage]

Let's get rid of the 3 strikes you're out rule

EVERYBODY WINS!!!

[11th Earl of Mar]

I liked using the half-flat volley balls.

When somebody got his the ball would stick to the side of their leg and finally fall off. They definately knew they were out.

Sometimes it even left a mark.

[RavenATB]

In her book, "The War Against Boys," Christina Sommers provides a lot of evidence that US public schools are engaged in an attempt to demasculinate our children. As evidence of this, one out of every eight American children in public schools are being drugged with Ritalin--nearly all of those hundreds of thousands of children are boys. Assuming that about half of American kids are boys, that means that one in every four American boys are being drugged to dull much of the traits that are typically characteristic of young boys--inattentiveness, "hyper"-activity, and short attention span.

Dodge ball is a safe and fun way for children to compete without having to possess any exceptional skill or strength. But, dodge ball produces something the "nanny-state" cannot stomach...a bunch of losers. In dodge ball, only one person wins, everyone else loses. As we've seen the excessive input of overprotective mothers winning in the movement to stop keeping score in children "competitive" sports like soccer and softball, we see that competition in any form is considered some sort of "abuse" by education bureaucrats. Keep in mind that the "education" establishment is one of the most female-dominated professions on earth.

In a day and age where birth-fathers are largely absent from the American family, over-protective and angry women are the dominant force in child-rearing. With no natural male counter-force, the national female urge to "nurture" children has become the addictive narcotic which dominates American public "education."

Just as the drug addict creates an "addict-friendly" environment around him, public schools continue the drum beat to demasculinate the children under their charge by "protecting" children from the character-building experience of failure.

America society has been unwittingly seduced into participating in the creation of a generation of "Woody Allens," when we should be trying to raise a generation of John Waynes.

Is should surprise no one that public education--a female-dominated enterprise--would become "ground zero" in the national movement to create a generation of "wussies."

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

"I prefer not to have anything thrown at children," she said, adding that the physical education curriculum has many ball-handling activities for children to prepare them for sports such as baseball and basketball.

Then how do you expect them to learn to dodge?

It is not the ball handling that is valuable here, you nitwit, it is learning how to get out of the way.

Dodgeball helps you develop reflexive defenses when something is hurdling toward you at great speed in an environment when not getting out of the way will only result in a little sting. It helps you hone your reactions and prevents the fatal "freeze factor" that later on in life can get you killed.

[cripplecreek]

We had those red rubber inflatable balls with the crosshatch surface. (for a better flesh grip)

[F16Fighter]

"Not as long as I can help it," said Kevin Sterling, program planner for physical education for Palm Beach County grades K-12. "It's an extremely aggressive, dangerous game."

Alright. Everybody with a ball...AIM FOR Kevin Sterling's HEAD!!

[dljordan]

I was the skinny kid who was very fast at dodging and running. I got lots of practice dodging and running from the twin brothers who tried to beat me up every afternoon. Both of them later became police officers in Nashville, Tn.

[stayathomemom]

We called it slaughter ball at our school. Then they told us we shouldn't play it any more so we changed the name to elimination dodge ball and we were back in business. It was always boys against boys and girls against girls. We used softer balls than the boys too. I always enjoyed it, but I was probably more athletic than some of the other girls in our class. At that age I never thought about it or a lot of things being humiliating (except spelling bees!) I suppose that if humiliation were discussed in the classroom, there would be those who would be supportive and encouraging of those whose feelings were hurt, and those who would use it as a power thing and try to humiliate someone even more.

[FlJoePa]

That's what we used...underinflated volleyballs. It allowed those with smaller hands to palm the ball easier and increase the velocity with which they could hit the nerd in the head.