Schools throw a wrench at dodgeball

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

[festus]

I've been forbidden to teach this game to the children by the matriarch of the house.

But then I've done many forbidden things......

It was a hoot.

[Looking4Truth]

"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."

The wussification of America continues.

[sergeantdave]

Dodgeball is great. It hones your reflexes and speed. The training in dodgeball helped me dodge grenades later in life.

[Chode]

Let the ones that WANT to play play and those who don't... let them play hop scotch or whatever.

We had three different sizes of the famous red rubber balls and the small ones were the hardest to catch.

After dodgeball my favorite was Scooter-Scoccer.

We had one foot square castered scooters with a four foot canvas ball and a big circle taped on the wall at each end of the gym where you had to make the ball touch inside.

All you had to do was get your finger/hand run over just ONCE and you learned to be VERY careful where you put your hands. Alas that went away even before dodgeball.

Thank god it was after I got out of school though or I would of been pissed.

[pepsionice]

I was introduced to Dodgeball at 15, and for about 18 months...I was terrible at it and really hated the game. I sat down one day and watched a game...and came to realize the strategy to it. During the next game...most of my squad was mowed down, leaving only three people on my side, and 12 on the other side. I had sat in the back and allowed the folks in the front to take the hits. With room to move..I then moved up front and began "catching" the ball...time after time. I took down the opposition in less than 3 minutes. The next game was the same way. The PE teacher sat there for several days watching this whole thing, and it constantly repeated itself...I would take down the opposition after the majority of my team was gone. After two weeks of this...the PE teacher took me to the side, and told me to sit on the bench while the games continued on with the other guys. The teacher said to me...you've learned a lesson in life now...when you can stand up to an opposition that is heavily favored against you and continually take them down...then you have confidence...and you can take that anywhere in life. I sat there and thought about...as a kid, these little chats didn't mean that much to me. Years later, I grasped the meaning. He was right. A strategy in life is the glue that holds things together. You need a strategy, and you need to stick with it. The trick is not to have fear, always plan on catching the ball, and endure...cause nothing comes easy.

[sharktrager]

"...they might just throw the ball to hit them.... They don't have a lot of sensitivity sometimes."

Isn't that the point of the game, or did we play it wrong?

[sharktrager]

I have no idea what a beer board is, but I want to join.

[sharktrager]

We had a rule that, if you caught the ball, the thrower was out.

If you were the last one on your team and you caught the ball, your whole team was back in.

Imagine a 3 on 1 game suddenly becoming 20 on 3.

[hollywood]

OMG!! Cancel the upcoming Olympics!! Someone's self-esteem might get injured if they only win a Silver Medal!

[Bonaparte]

The feminization and sissification of boys continues.

Remember back in the 1970s, when the "counter-culture" spawned new psychotherapies that involved the use of foam bats and pillows to smack people with? It was billed as a harmless way to get anger out. Now the same social engineering crowd has reversed themselves on that sort of thing -- violence is ok for islamics because its "justified," violence is ok for Mumia too. But games of aggression that don't kill or injure anybody are not ok for American boys. Next, they'll try to get rid of boxing, football, wrestling and anything else that gives testosterone-fueled kids a healthy outlet for their natural aggression.

[Bonaparte]

"...and I LOVED dodge ball!"

So did I.

In my school, it was called just what it was: War Ball. Afterward, you could always tell who was a sore loser and who was a stand-up guy. It was a great litmus test for who you wanted to be friends with.