Dodgeball

My youngest started high school a week after she finished the 8th grade. Well, not really, but they did let her take PE during the summer so she could squeeze in another elective during the school year. The other day I asked her what they had done that day during class and she said "We played dodgeball." That was a bit of a surprise because all I've heard for the last 10 years or so was how schools were moving away from games like that because it was harmful to both their bodies and self esteem... or some such thing.

Anyway. I loved dodgeball in school, or battleball as some people called it. It was THE gym game during PE. You could tell a lot about a kid by the way he played the game. The more aggressive, athletic ones were out in front, catching the balls thrown at them and then chasing the other guy back to the wall. The more shy and timid ones stood back against the wall, moving side to side to dodge the balls thrown at them. Some even got hit as soon as they could so they could sit down. A couple of times when I didn't feel like playing I did the same thing.

My worst experience in dodgeball was having Arnold Hawkins pen my head between the ball and the wall at the gym in the old high school. I turned just in time to catch sight of the ball out of the corner of my eye just before I got it in the side of the head. I had a headache for hours after that.

I can remember once in freshman year (I think) when the girls joined us for a game. The major irritation then was that I was knocked out of the game before more than half the girls were. :)