Dodgeball combines fashion, fear, reflexes

Jane's Journal

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Information gleaned from Google has it that dodgeball originated in World War II when it was used by the Germans to keep their pilots active and limber as well as improve their hand-eye coordination. The game, or some close form of it, has been labeled with some rather politically incorrect monikers over the years. These include elimination, maulball, murderball and my favorite, bombardment. Fortunately, modern dodgeball rules call for no head-shots, but those of us who can still feel the throbbing left by unforgiving rubber smacking against our exposed flesh understand these labels. No matter where it was established, anyone that has ever tried to bob and weave his way to safety through a dodgeball court has put his social and physical life on the line. There's a reason that early twentieth century dodgeballers referred to the sphere as a "Death Brick."

Spring dodgeball tournaments started this week at GHS with students and teachers lacing those sneakers and heating up their throwing arms at the fierce competition ... each other.

So, after a windy soccer practice Wednesday night, I headed over to Wicall Gymnasium, home of the "dodgeballers" themselves to get a sense of how a real match goes down. Peering in, I noticed the gym was separated into four courts by giant curtains that hung from the ceiling. Needless to say, the size of the playing fields was less intimidating than I had imagined. The few bystanders there stood along the sidelines out of the line of fire. Of course, an occasional wayward ball would come my way but that's the price to pay for floor seats.

Being the wanna-be "fashionista" that I am, I took note of each player's attire. A couple of teams made T-shirts while others coordinated their gym clothes with goofy knee socks and sweatbands. I could see for some it was a competition to see who could dress the funkiest, not who could pummel the most opponents. Another point of interest and perhaps most humorous were some of the team names. A team of boastful teachers called themselves "The Untouchables." Other comical names such as "The Wheezing Geezers," "Dancing Nancies," and "Creampuffs" are what set this extracurricular apart from the others.

The game moved fast and it appeared there were basically two kinds of players, the quick and the "dead." While everyone was having much fun, I felt great sympathy for the final remaining player on each team, especially when it was one versus three or four! At this point, I think I would come up with one more name for dodgeball: "See Jane Run, See Jane Run Fast!"

Jane Simkins is a sophomore at Galesburg High School.