Some things just don't need studying. Dodgeball is pretty fucking high on that list.

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The devil made me do it the first time, second time I done it on my own - W

I wonder what they'd say about "smear the queer" which along with dodgeball and kickball were the staples of recess when I was kid.

Researchers interviewed middle-school students about their physical education classes and say the overwhelming feeling was that students hated dodgeball.


Students hate PE. Doesn't matter what they're doing.


'If one thing were to come out of this it would be for P.E. teachers to look at their curriculums and look for balance,' she said. 'And that could mean dropping games and including other activities: outdoor education, fitness, gymnastics, aquatics.'

Because students who don't like dodgeball are going to enjoying running laps on the track and performing routines on the parallel bars? ("Suzy is so slow we all lapped her!" "Jimmy is so fat he couldn't even get up onto the bars!") How do you offer "aquatics" at schools that don't have a swimming pool? (Not to mention the body issues kids have and trying to get them to wear swim suits in front of their classmates once they hit junior high.)

They'll simply have to eliminate PE classes. And anything else that could embarrass a student. (I was a terrible speller. I wish they'd never had spelling bees at my school.)

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

There were 3 guys in my grade that could throw those little red balls a ton. There were probably 4 or 5 guys that consistently took those balls to the face about 30 seconds in and then sat out the rest of the game.

What were those 4 or 5 guys guys learning?

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I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

Dodgeball does suck.

To duck

If you can dodge a wrench you can dodge a ball!!

Yup. Only thing I'd add to that was shirts vs skins. I'm guessing you don't see that anymore either.

Let's not forget that by kickball rules (at least when i played at school) you were out if someone threw the ball at you and hit you while you were running the bases. Risky move if you missed, as that meant extra bases.

I read some official kickball rules just now to check up on the "status" and they don't mention being out by a thrown ball. It does mention you can tag someone out though.

.

I was one of the kids thrown at. I enjoyed the hell out of it because when you catch the ball, and I did, the thrower is out.

Yeah but Willie and Bruce couldn't catch. So they got lit up, every single time.

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I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

The quality and thoughtfulness of responses in the LetsRun thread put this one to shame.

Essentially, it sounds like these researchers want to generally get rid of competition in phys ed. I'm shocked. Blue ribbons for everyone.

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Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)

Slowguy always eager to find the slippery slope in any debate. :)

My school has a pool and swimming is one of the units the kids have for a quarter. The kids HATE it. A ton don’t swim and take a zero for the quarter. They do play dodgeball a lot. I guess you can’t win.

I was a pitcher back in school and had a flamethrower of a fastball. I loved dodgeball in PE. The sweet sound a dodgeball makes upon contact with a human being brings a smile to my face. Bonus points if the other team was skins and you caused welts. 👍👍

I’m generally not a sadistic person and I’m anti-bullying but dodgeball was awesome.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

I was Willie & Bruce combined. It's a good thing I had contacts instead of glasses.

x1000. I f'ing loved dodgeball. We had way more than 3 guys that could play, and everyone took their share of shots to the face and body. Well, maybe some people had different "shares", but it happened to everyone. One of my favorite memories was my 2nd grade male teacher getting out there and playing at 100% -- with the little red balls. That was something.

I loved competition. I had a high pain tolerance. I never quit. I certainly wasn't alone in that regard. I'm not sure if dodgeball taught me that, or just helped me learn and experience those things about myself, but they've been pretty instrumental in the rest of my life.

I was too, but I hated dodgeball. I was kind of a nerd/geek at that time, the kind of guy who got picked on. Which is why I hated dodgeball, but it is a great vehicle for sadism against weaker kids.

I came into my own in baseball when the coach gut super pissed off at all our pitchers because they were sucking, and his rationale was "let's put the geek in, he can't do any worse than you pussies." Then no one could get a hit off me. Actually I didn't have a great fastball, but my natural fastball is a slider (by accident), which is really effective at that age.

By high school I was a jock and 6'3", and no longer got picked on. But I don't credit dodgeball, but organized sports.

Nothing fails like success because we don't learn from it. We learn only from failure. - Kenneth Boulding


Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly. - Robert F. Kennedy

I was skinny in high school but I could throw a fucking ball. My favorite part of dodgeball wasn't pummeling the weaker kids but pummeling the big doofus football player types. I'd light them up with a dodgeball and they'd first look at me like "Wait until we get back to the locker room or after school and I'm gonna punch you" but then they actually kind of respect the skinny kid for wailing on them. Same went for when I played lacrosse. I wasn't technically that great at it but I had a canon for a shot that was pretty accurate. So there was some respect that went with that when I otherwise had no idea what I was doing half the time. Get me ball and let me throw it really hard at the goal/goalie.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

I had a friend that did a master level thesis on the psychological effects of athletic ability in kids and how it shaped their friend groups and instilled life long confidence in them.

That was dodgeball and all sports in the 4-8th grade range for me. I was good at sports so immediately I was one of the cool kids. Sports, including dodgeball, was used a means to sort out the kids and put you in your social group. If you were not good at sports, there were other groups to be a part of, but the coveted group of young males were the ones owning the playground be it tag, smear the queer, kill the man, dodgeball, kickball or any other made up game.

To take away competitive sports for young kids will be a disservice in my view. Kids need a way to distinguish themselves at a young age and for some its sports. For others it is music, being good at school or being really good looking. Or we could just refuse to acknowledge anyone's differences and force all kids into the same, sterile, neutered box where no one is good at anything and no one is bad at anything. "yes kids, you are all special"


As the little evil dude in The Incredibles said...." I will make a world where we are all special, and if everyone is special, then no one is. "

Yeah, that was about what I was going to post. I was a smaller kid but I could throw a ball--growing up throwing footballs and baseballs. That's the equalizer in dodgeball. The skinny kid with an arm can take out a guy twice his size with even a glancing blow or a catch. I had a blast even though I caught one in the face once in a while.

Dodgeball totally sucked for me. Then again, so did math class. I vote to eliminate them both.

I don't understand, we seperate kids for math, and english why not PE?

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Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.