Dodgeball: Recreation or Humiliation?

Dodgeball has always toyed with the line between fun and fear. Either you love to pummel people by hurling balls at them, or you’re scared to death of getting hit. But now that they’re all grown up, many of today’s adults are siding with the fear factor of the game, hoping to kick dodgeball out of school once and for all. “I loved playing dodgeball as a kid because I could run and catch and throw a ball. But now, as an adult, I have a lot of empathy for the kids who don’t enjoy it,” said Steve Silverman, a Columbia University professor who studies attitudes in physical education. “They’re just children. They go through physical education with memories of balls being thrown at them, and it’s not much fun.” Kids from back in day didn’t have the light, foamy “ouchless” balls that some kids toss around today. Back then, kids used rubber kickballs. They hurt. They gave kids a good enough ping to avoid getting pegged again.

In the 1990s, those former kids grew up and started speaking out against the game. A man named Neil F. Williams wrote a three-part series in the Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance about all the horrible games kids should stop playing. It was called “The Physical Education Hall of Shame.” Dodgeball was first on the list. Williams said dodgeball’s main goal was to “inflict pain, harm, injury and embarrassment on one’s opponents.”

Other shameful games he wrote about included Duck, Duck Goose (the duck always has a head start), Simon Says (promotes deception), and elimination games such as Tag and Musical Chairs.

“What usually happens is that the least skilled or least attentive students are the first to be eliminated,” Williams wrote, “and then they spend the rest of the time it takes to produce a ‘winner’ sitting on the floor as ‘losers’ with little to do but watch their classmates.”

Out of all the games blasted in the Hall of Shame, dodgeball got it the worst. “Generally speaking,” Williams wrote, “the game is a litigation action waiting to happen.”

That lawsuit came nine years later, when a 7-year-old girl named Heather Lindaman sued New York’s Vestal Central School District after she fell and broke her elbow during a dodgeball game at school.

Call it payback to all the bullies in grade school, but several of today’s adults don’t want kids playing dodgeball anymore. The game’s been banned in school districts across the country. Even the New York City Department of Education has taken dodgeball out of its public schools.

“There are other, safer and more inclusive activities to develop physical fitness skills that do not involve using students as moving targets,” Lori Benson, the director of the department’s Office of Fitness and Health Education, said in a statement.

Fans have been somewhat bummed by the bans, but not enough to kick dodgeball to the curb. Kids may have Ben Stiller to thank for dodgeball’s big comeback. In 2004, he starred in the blockbuster comedy, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, about an adult dodgeball tournament. Next thing you know, adult dodgeball leagues were popping up all over the place. And kids have been joining leagues around New York City, too. “Retro sports aren’t limited to clothes,” said Cheryl Richardson of the National Association for Sport & Physical Education, which supports the ban. “Sports are coming back.” In New York, kids can play dodgeball at Simply Sports, FastBreak, Holy Name Dodgeball League (Brooklyn), Yorkville Youth Athletic Association, and other leagues throughout the city. Simply Sports even mixes up the types of dodgeball that kids play. There’s Dr. Dodgeball, in which a doctor has healing powers that keep teammates in the game— until someone pelts him. There’s Army Dodgeball, in which a player loses a limb every time he’s hit, until he’s out. There’s also Scatterball, in which everyone is for themselves.

“It’s a high-energy atmosphere. The kids are getting a great workout. And they have so much fun,” said Jeffrey Bernstein, the founder and director of Simply Sports.

“The biggest fight is over what version to play.” But as dodgeball gets more popular, groups like the National Association for Sport & Physical Education have gotten louder about yanking it out of schools. The association wrote a position statement about the game that included stats about childhood obesity, followed by their opinion that dodgeball isn’t the best sport to keep kids exercising throughout the game. “The students who are eliminated first in dodgeball are typically the ones who most need to be active and practice their skills,” the statement said. “Many times these students are also the ones with the least amount of confidence in their physical abilities. Being targeted because they are the ‘weaker’ players, and being hit by a hard-thrown ball, does not help kids to develop confidence.”

Besides that, Silverman said, “Dodgeball doesn’t really contribute to anything educational. It has no learning benefit whatsoever.”

Some dodgeball supporters say that kids learn to move quickly on their feet and to think strategically (or risk getting nailed).

Silverman called the argument a copout. “It’s basically running not to get hurt as opposed to running for physical activity,” he said. “However, I think there are differences between whether kids elect to participate and whether they’re forced to participate in school.”

Kids in dodgeball leagues have a better chance of enjoying themselves, league directors say, because all of them actually want to be there. For several of the kids, dodgeball is their favorite game. “Dodgeball is a good sport,” 9-year-old Harry Lazerwitz said as he watched middle schoolers play dodgeball at Yorkville. “It helps you face your fears.”

There was more fun than fear at a recent Yorkville game. Kids were ducking and swerving, tossing and hurling, grinning when they made a catch and momentarily disappointed when they were called out. But as soon as they hit the sidelines, they cheered for their teammates. There was no bullying, or taunting or picking on the girls on the team. The kids may not have been learning as much as experts would like, but that doesn’t mean they should do away with dodgeball, league directors said. “I don’t expect the gym teacher to teach dodgeball, but there is a place for these games in recreational activities,” said Arlene Virga, executive director of the Yorkville league. “Don’t we kind of have enough of the basketball leagues? We need something more recreational.”

Dodgeball parents agree. “They play organized sports all day. But when they come here, it’s about fun,” said Karyn Twaronite, whose 9-year-old son, Jack, plays dodgeball with FastBreak. “It’s complete, unorganized mayhem. And they love it. ”