Variations on a theme: Dodgeball
At a recent AWANA meeting, I got to watch about 16 10-year-old kids play dodgeball. It was really interesting to see how dodgeball has been improved over the years. The dodgeball I remember was two teams at opposite sides of a gym trying to peg each other until one side was out of players.
However, the dodgeball played last night had some interesting variants. The first game was called PinBall instead of DodgeBall. The court layout was the same, but about 2/3 of the way back on each side, three bowling pins were set up about 12 feet away from each other. Now the game would end when one side was depleted, or when one side's bowling pins were all knocked down. This brought out the strategy of kids standing in front of the bowling pins to defend them, and at the same time defending themselves.
The rule of catching the ball in the air makes the other dude out is still around, but now you can catch the ball from anywhere. This means that if the ball is coming towards you and bounces once you can still catch it without being called out. As long as when you catch it you do not 'fumble' it in some way, you are okay. So if you go to catch it and touch it but it gets away from you then you are out.
The other game played was MedicBall. This time there were no bowling pins, but one kid on each side was picked as a medic. Interestingly, both sides picked smaller kids to be the medic. The medic hangs out way in the back and if someone gets hit they can 'rescue' them by tagging them. The medic usually went on his rescues with one person in front of him protecting him on the way out. The obvious strategy was to get the medic out, but that was pretty tough with the number of kids.
Additionally, in MedicBall, one ball was deemed the 'Missile'. The missile was the red ball. If the missile was thrown at you, you could not attempt to catch it in anyway. As a missile it drills everything it touches until it goes to the back.
Of course, none of these are so whacked as Russian Dodgeball. Russian dodgeball has no teams. Everyone stands in the center. One person is picked to go on one side, and another person is picked for the other side. They then use one ball and one person throws at the group and they all jump out of the way and the other person in throwing at the group throws the ball back to the first.
In Russian Dodgeball, a thrower can shout 'Soldier!' and cause the group in the middle to have to freeze in position. They then turn their back on the group and throw the ball backwards over their head. People in the center may not move and the first dude the ball hits is out.
The thrower may also yell 'River!' and then roll the ball along the ground. All players in the center are then required to let the ball go through their legs without touching them. If the ball is thrown to fast, their are cries of outrage and the river doesn't count. If the ball is thrown in good speed and most middle players make it, anyone not making it is out. Of course, the last player to make the river is right next to the opposite thrower and has to run to get out of the way.
For those who would ask, I have never seen the movie Dodgeball. I can't imagine it being more fun than what I saw last night.
Submitted by - David Johnson