Dodgeball redux

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DODGEBALL

Yeah, let's really nail that fat, nerdy, teacher's-pet Shirley!

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Gym favorite's back

January 8, 2001 Chicago Sun-Times

BY ART GOLAB STAFF REPORTER

Remember the thrill of whipping that big rubber ball across the gym floor and the satisfying smack of knocking an opponent out of a game of dodgeball?

Remember the exhilaration of successfully evading a well-hurled projectile?

A group of Schaumburg Park District employees hope those memories will get adults back into the gym to revisit the game they played as youths.

They have formed the National Amateur Dodgeball Association, and have come up with new rules and equipment that have transformed the game into a kinder, gentler version of the one played in grade school and high school gyms.

"People like it because everybody's already played it," said Bill DePue, co-director of the National Amateur Dodgeball Association. "They all have memories from childhood and it kind of brings them back when they play again." And while DePue doesn't expect dodgeball to rival sports like tennis or even softball anytime soon, he thinks it could be the next big thing in adult sports.

NADA's first outdoor tournament was held last summer and was a success.

And on Saturday, more than 200 people on 26 teams vied for NADA's first indoor championships. "We had to turn teams away--we didn't have the time or court space," said DePue.

Mike Mayer, 19, of Rolling Meadows, found out about last summer's tournament while browsing the Internet. He quickly organized friends into a team.

Mayer was back in the gym Saturday. "It reminds me of school. Dodgeball was the most fun we had in gym class," he said.

Brandon Fish, 27, of Hoffman Estates, found out about it from a flier in his local bank. He had no trouble interesting his colleagues at a software company in the sport. "The best part of it is you really get to nail guys, but nobody gets hurt," said Fish.

But while the sport has no problems attracting men, "We really have to work on getting women," DePue said. Some female teams played in the summer tournament but not enough registered to have a division in the weekend contest.

The big rubber ball that sparked cases of post-traumatic dodgeball disorder in some is gone. NADA mandates a rubber-coated foam sphere 8-inches in diameter.

"It's much softer," said DePue. "It's light enough not to cause injury, but heavy enough so that it wouldn't be stressful to throw it."

But some people still aren't convinced. Peggy Meller, 30, of Chicago, said she would never play the game.

"I hated it, I always got creamed," she said. "It was a way for the good athletes to prey on those who always got picked last in gym class."

DePue and his colleagues got the idea for a national association after brainstorming about dodgeball events for their park district but couldn't find a sanctioning body. "So we started our own."

So far most of their publicity has come from media interviews on the East Coast, where several school districts have banned dodgeball, saying it's too confrontational and damages the self-esteem of students.

DePue said his group's new rules encourage cooperation, and he hopes schools will adopt them. "Everybody has to work together as a team," he said.

For now NADA is concentrating on promoting dodgeball in Midwestern states but hopes to become a national organization. Players from Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, California and Texas showed up for this weekend's tournament, which was won by Bexley Reckers, a team from Bexley, Ohio. Teams from Naperville, Morton Grove and Arlington Heights came in second, third and fourth.

***

DODGEBALL RULES!

NADA's rules are a combination of what gym teachers told them and what Bill DePue and his colleagues found worked in practice.

Here of some of NADA's rules:

Teams are composed of six players each, and games are played in an area the size of a tennis court.

Play begins with six balls placed on the center line, and matches last 10 minutes or until all the players on one side are eliminated, whichever comes first.

You get other players out by hitting them with the ball. If your opponent catches your ball, you are out. Complete rules are available at Dodgeballusa.com.



-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), January 08, 2001

Answers

No mention of a seniors division. Dang.

ps: no "www" in the addy.

-- Carlos (riffraff@cybertime.net), January 08, 2001.


I remember you Lars. I hated your guts for throwing the ball so hard at my fat ass. You traumatized me for 40 years.

But I got revenge, dickwad. Remember that redhead at the 25th class reunion? Remember room 310 in the Paramus Hilton? Remember the dripping, burning clap when you got home? Remember what wifey said?

Remember Shirley Heffeldinck!

-- (shirley@bergen.mall), January 09, 2001.


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