50 Dodgeball Facts For Kids To Learn More About The Sport

Group sports are amazing, they are a way of not only forming bonds inside the team but also coming together as a team to defend against the opponent.

Playing dodgeball is one of the most famous group sports that are being played today. Many people also refer to this sport as throw balls or softballs, simply because we throw balls at the members of another team.

The idea of a dodgeball game is similar to just any other team sports game, to come together as a team and eliminate the opponent. However, in a dodgeball match, things are more adventurous and fun. Two teams play against each other and they try to eliminate the members of the opposing team by throwing soft balls at them.

Facts About Dodgeball

A ball is thrown at the opposite team if it touches the other opposing player then the player is out.

In a dodgeball tournament, the opposite team throws rubber balls or soft balls at you, and if the player catches the ball thrown by the opposing player he is not out.

If the players throw and the other player fails to catch the ball and gets hit by it, they lose a point and they're out.

There are different kinds of variants of dodgeballs and every variant has some new rules and is often played on a dodgeball court.

The first and the most common type of dodgeball game is one team against the other.

The second kind of dodgeball match is one player against the other team.

The third variation is a little more chaotic and in this, every man is for himself, thus they defend just themselves and there is no opposing team or own team.

Dodgeball lies in the heart of people, various film and pop culture references to dodgeball is seen, one such was in the Vince Vaughn film.

The game is played on a square court and around 10 players on each team, throw balls at the other players.

A dodgeball is designed with the sole purpose of not harming any player in the game. Therefore it weighs every less.

In general, a dodgeball or softball only weighs around 14 oz(410 g)

Dodgeball is considered a very safe sport the game gear, the ball itself is very soft thus it doesn't cause any damage to the players.

In order to make softball even safer for players, there are certain rules which say that a player cannot hit another player over the head, they can only hit them below the shoulder.

Dodgeball's History

Read some of the interesting facts about dodgeball and its history with humankind.

Dodgeball is not a new sport, it's been played for centuries now.

The first time dodgeball was played was in Africa and in those times there were no softballs, hence players would simply throw stones at each other.

In the earlier times, dodgeball was seen as a sport to encourage team spirit.

Before going to war or battle the soldiers often were made to play dodgeball and defend their own teammates from attack to trigger their team spirit.

Phillip Fergus is known to be the name behind the invention of dodgeball, the rules of this game were invented in the year 1905.

Dodgeball is not just entertaining, it's also very good for your health, a study claims that playing dodgeball can enhance your cardiovascular health.

Many researchers believed that the origin of dodgeball was in Asia and ancient Greece in the early 500 B.C.

In the earlier times, dodgeball was a deadly game and it often resulted in death, people used stones in place of softballs.

Dodgeball's Rules

Dodgeball games come with their own set of rules, there are five rules of dodgeball games.

The first rule of dodgeball is 'dodge' dodge any balls that are coming from the opposite team.

The second rule is made to carry out the safety in the game. You can hit the players only below the shoulders, it shouldn't hit their head.

If the player throws a ball and it is caught by the opposing team, then the player is out.

If you hit another player above the shoulder, then you are out.

If you fail to catch the ball and it hits you then you are out.

Six balls are taken in use to conduct the game, more balls can't be allowed after that.

The term opening rush defines a very interesting phenomenon in dodge ball, in this players rush towards the center to catch the ball and then throw balls at the opposite team.

The largest game ever played in the history of dodgeball was at the University of California, having more than 6000 players playing dodgeball.

No player can hold the ball for more than five seconds.

Dodgeball game in earlier times was not identified as a professional sport.

Today the national dodgeball league is known as the only professional body that handles professional dodgeball games.

There can be a maximum of 10 players in dodgeball, however, a general game among six players is being played in dodgeball.

A dodgeball game is generally being laid on a soccer pitch.

Since throwing balls at opposite players can hurt the players the ball is made of soft materials, such as foam or rubber.

Its believed that dodgeball was first invited in the year 1897, although before this as well people used to play the sport and it was famous in rural Africa.

In dodgeball there are two kinds of games, one is informal and the other is formal, which is also known as the dodgeball tournament.

An informal game is played until one team wins and the other team loses all its players.

In tournaments, the game generally lasts for around 40 minutes.

There are four main player positions in dodgeball.

These player positions are called the catchers, the throwers, the corners and snipers.

The catcher is responsible for catching the balls.

The corners are generally there to safeguard the valuable players and often they take the hit of the ball to defend other players.

Snipers are the crucial players who take in hand the job to throw balls and eliminate other players of the opposite team.

When it comes to a thrower, they need a strong arm and they are generally positioned near the centerline and throw the ball after a counterattack.

Facts About Dodgeball Players

Here are some of the most exciting facts about dodgeball players.

All dodgeball players have strong agility, they need it since they need to quickly regain posture and attack the other team.

Playing dodgeball not just reform once agility but the players are also well balanced as balance is an important phenomenon.

Hand-to-eye coordination of dodgeball players is superior.

The game also improves flexibility along with helping the players in developing fast reflexes.

The most famous dodgeball player is Jarvis Landry.