Banning Dodgeball in School?

[Joyride]

God I sucked at dodgeball. But I always looked forward to playing it. Always hid in the back and checked out the other teams chicks.

I liked kickball because I would always hit one down the 3rd baseline for a single. Cheap yet effective.

 

[Jerboy]

<< "encourages the strong to pick on the weak". -Tom >>




Yeah probably. Back in Jr. High, there was this 250lb 5'3 obese boy and I always threw the ball at him HARD and it made a cool thump sound that made everyone else want to try it. He sucked at throwing and didn't have enough acceleration to avoid our balls.

 

[Mephistopheles]

I remember when the 'cool' guys use to try and hurt the 'uncool' guys and it bothered me (i was somewhere in between). But if I never played dodgeball, I never would've gotten hit by the girl I had a crush on and she wouldn't have talked to me after

 

[SackOfAllTrades]

<< (i was somewhere in between) >>


admit it, you were uncool

 

[Mephistopheles]

<< admit it, you were uncool >>



I was not uncool! I was in the math club, the chess club, and the choir. Beat that for coolness!

 

[Wingznut]

Be careful... THIS IS NOT ABOUT DODGEBALL!

This guy and his group wants to ban ALL competitive activities in school. He thinks it's some sort of tragedy for some kid to be on the losing side.

Umm... HELLO? Everybody in life looses from time to time. I'm not sure how anyone thinks it's a good idea for kids not to learn this extremely valuable lesson. Many times, you see someone's true character when they are on the losing end.

Competition is life... Every day.

 

[Fausto]

Heh...I'm the poster child supporting this guy's argument about dodgeball. For me, it was a weekly opportunity to throw something the heads of my classmates I didn't like.

Fausto

 

[TheBlondOne]

As one of "the weak," I would be very upset if dodgeball was banned. It's a rite of passage in school!

OK, so I was always one of the first out, but still...if you don't get to play that game you never really experienced true elementary or middle school.

--Sarah

 

[cedman]

I bet this Neil Williams dude sucked @ss at dodgeball when he was a kid and now that he's all grown up, wants it banned so his pansy kids don't suffer the so fate. Ahhhh!!! the mermories of nailing people in the head and nads......

 

[Dan]

Banning dodgeball is ridiculous. Who here hasn't benefitted from a few good whacks to the head?

 

[sheselectric]

i too am reminded of harrison bergeron with this wacko trying to ban dodgeball from school. kids play, kids compete, and some might not be as good as others. that's what life is about, and competition between kids is gonna happen whether it's in school or not!

 

[CocaCola5]

I am for banning it just because some teachers, I could remember, would actually include it as part of the grade. Great game but no one should be forced to play it.

 

[MuffD]

I am agains the banning of any of those games!! This guy was probably one of those kids who got hit everytime they played or was one of those kids who nobody wanted to pick on any of their teams.

 

[Nitemare]

We used to play a game called jailball that was based on dodgeball..

The children were divided in two teams..Captains took turn picking kids until just the one huge fat kid who picked his nose and ate paste was left..(Couldn't do that nowadays because it would hurt the kids feelings..and they might bring a gun and put a cap in you..hehehe)

3 or so of the red balls were put into play of various sizes. The only difference is you could catch the ball and throw back..the only way to go out was to be hit with the ball and let the ball touch the ground afterwards...

Say if I beamed fatboy in the head but lack of coordination Mary was talking to have no clue Sue and the ball wedged between them so they managed to catch it..then fatboy was safe until the next beaning. After you got out, you got put in jail which was located behind the basketball goal on the court..So after each team had 50% of its team out..they had an equal number of people on either side throwing the ball at them. The team with the last remaining player wins..

sort of like this link only we had no doctors.

There was even a tournament afterschool in middle school one year the same day as a picnic athletic event..I got injured..an aluminum baseball bat to the knee which started to swell during softball that day. I kept on moving on it so it would not stiffen up because I didn't want to miss the tournament..Think our team finished second out of 12 teams, went home and then went to the Emergency room cause it looked like I had a cantalope in my knee...

Ahh the good old days...

 

[Wingznut]

Am I the only one seeing the bigger picture? This isn't about Dodgeball... it's about competition. Dodgeball is just the one competitive game that this guy can ride on as his agenda.

 

[RudeBoie]

I'm no athlete, but I was still pretty decent at Dodgeball. Like all sports, you have to want to play. For the most part, people play fair.

If they is more than 1 ball, I could see how that could cause problems, because that just becomes chaos.

 

[LordMaul]

Definitely. I sprained my ankle once playing that game. It's just made to hurt thw eak.

 

[MaxDepth]

Messy Back Yard Explained
(by the dork professor himself)
MessyBackYard (MBY)

MBY is a misbegotten creation that still seems to
show up in variations in the name of developing
teamwork and enhancing throwing and catching
skills for primary (K-3) children.

Students are divided into two groups, and each
side is assigned to one half of a court while
separated by a net or barrier at mid-court. Each
group has 15 to 50 foam discs, Nerf balls, plastic
bowling pins, and assorted other objects. On the
teacher 's signal, the students begin to throw the
objects over the net to the other group's side.

Students may catch or pick up any objects thrown
over their side and throw it back. The action is
fast, furious and borders on the maniacal. The
game consists of several rounds and the object is
to clean up your messy back yard and to have the
fewest objects on your side when the round is
ended (usually after a minute). When the round
ends, each team counts all of the objects on its
side and the team with fewer objects gets a point
for having the "neater" back yard.

First, can a second grade class accurately count 50
or 60 objects in less than 5 minutes? Actual
physical activity time is absolutely minimal.
Second, because the action is so frenzied, objects
continue to fly over the net for at least 15 seconds
after the whistle has sounded, rendering the first
minute absolute meaningless. Third, this game is
almost completely mindless. Students are told to
throw all of the objects back over the net as fast as
they can, but actually the best strategy is to collect
everything that is thrown over to you and then
wait until one second before the round ends
before bombarding your helpless opponent with
100 assorted balls.


IMHO - kudos for the 6-8 year old who figures out this strategy. secondly, if the other side is just as smart, what happens then? brains+reaction timing= interesting game.

I tell ya, I'll let my kids play these games and then see how they compare to his kids when they reach college. His poor kids are probably wedgie victims already.

 

[Bulk Beef]

I was looking over that guy's list, and there's a game I'm not familiar with. Steal the Bacon? Is that a variation on Hide the Salami?

 

[TAsunder]

I don't know about banning dodgeball, but I do know that some of the people who were defending it on realsports are so incredibly illogical that I wonder if they got hit in the head too many times as a kid.

Their basic defense of dodgeball is: "we need to teach kids how to cope with losing and not always winning." Ok, good, true, but what does this have to do with dodgeball? It's not like it's random who wins and loses. If you want to come up with a game that teaches people how to lose, come up with one where everyone loses with the same amount of regularity. Now that would be a useful game.

 

[Ornery]

"...it's a complete waste of time, energy, and any money that has been/is put into it already."

If only you were talking about gym, phys. Ed and extracurricular sports in general, I would agree 100%. We spend far too much time with such things and NOTHING to do with parenting, real estate or consumerism in general. Which would be more important to know, how to save money and buy a house or how to play dodge ball? Would the time be better spent teaching kids how to raise children or how to play volleyball? Great priorities we have!

 

[Jhill]

I loved playing dodgeball so much I get all giddy just thinking about it. I swear if we had a city league I would join.

 

[ThaGrandCow]

Most sports encourage you to aim for the weaker players. Think about it:

Baseball: Hit the ball towards the larger/slower/whatever outfielder (if you can)... They will take longer to get the ball to the bases, possibly enabling you to get an additional base

Football: This one's pretty obvious. Would you run the ball towards Tiny, the 250lb running wall? No, you're gonna look for the smaller player so you can get by him more easily.

Hockey: Maybe not hockey... hit anything that moves.

Soccer: See Football

Tag (saw this one below): Run towards the slower player so you can not be "it"

This is total BS. The whole point to sports is to win (have fun too, but you have more fun when you win)

Heck even in non-physical sports you're going to shoot for the other teams weaker players or use a particular persons weakness. Thats part of the game: Look for weaknesses you can take advantage of.

 

[Wingznut]

"If only you were talking about gym, phys. Ed and extracurricular sports in general, I would agree 100%. "

Yeah, I see your point... Learning teamwork/cooperation/strategy, getting exercise, and having some fun is a total waste of time.

Teach an 8-year old how to buy a house and invest money instead of them learning social skills and having fun, huh? I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you don't have an 8-year old son.

Trust me... A bank ledger isn't going to bond a father and son like a baseball and glove will.

C'mon people... let's let kids be kids. Why does a boy have to worry about buying a house? How much sense does that make?

 

[Ornery]

"This is total BS. The whole point to sports is to win (have fun too, but you have more fun when you win)"

School sports and Phys. Ed. is TOTAL BS! Why the F are we using public taxes for any of it in the first place?