Date achieved:
21st December 2016
Where?
Melbourne, Australia
Why is this experience on the Challenge List?
Who knew that playing a game of competitive dodgeball was even a thing? There is also a national Australian dodgeball team and a World Championship to go with that league!
I definitely didn’t know that dodgeball existed on a competitive level and that is why I just had to add it to the Challenge List.
Description:
I remember when I was in high school I was one of those girls that would stay up the back and not throw the ball unless I absolutely had to or someone would throw the ball to me to have a go at throwing it. This would either result in me being caught out or getting hit by the ball. For this reason, dodgeball was just not fun in high school for me.
When a family friend said that she played competitive dodgeball and she invited me to play as well, it took me weeks of convincing to actually attend my first game. When I finally managed to go to dodgeball, I found that there were so many rules to keep up with and who allows headshots to be counted as an out?
The basics are that there are six balls in play at all times, six players on each side, 50 minutes to each game and the team with the most points from each round wins the game overall.
For the majority of my first season, I got pummeled for not dodging and well throwing and catching, which did not go in my favour either. Over time, I slowly began to understand more about the game and I learnt how to manoeuvre myself to dodge the ball, throw the ball better and catch the ball. Unfortunately, this didn’t quite extend to being able to dodge the ball with my face, as I believed it was a moving target for some people. Even though they would always apologise, I was still getting hit about three times in the head with it most games, I just wasn’t quick enough.
Each game I would keep a mental tally of how many catches and people I was getting out with my throws and each week I would try to do better than my previous best scores. My cousin came to play dodgeball with me as well and we would talk about dodgeball tactics and how the team could improve in certain areas and the best ways to approach this.
Sometime after I started playing I naturally got selected to collect and sort the money, organise the team players each week to ensure that we had six at the start of the match and direct any correspondence to the team from the Melbourne Dodgeball League, with all of this I became the team captain. I went from playing no sports to becoming the team captain, within about a year.
I have since found that being a team captain is something that I can do from a distance, when I have been on overseas holidays, extended placements and other interstate holidays I have still be able to ensure that my team would always have six players when the timer started.
I love dodgeball and since starting there have only been a rare few games that I have missed and this is due to the fact that I have booked holidays around dodgeball games or come early from events or cancelled other events to ensure that I make it to dodgeball basically every week.
I am now proud to say that in 2021, I have been playing dodgeball for almost five years, I don’t get hit in the head as much with the dodgeball, I have learnt how to play the position of wing defence and I have a strong team of friends that I get to play with each week – where win or lose we don’t mind, we just have fun and we do it all while having a smile on our faces and laughing at the fails.
Would I do it again?
I love playing competitive dodgeball on a weekly basis, it’s been a great way to meet people from my local community, keeping fit and having fun whilst doing it. I am very committed to playing dodgeball and I guess that is why I somehow became the team captain.
Highlight:
One of the best games I’ve played is a game that I got six catches in one game, that was my personal best of catches per game. It’s pretty safe to say after that game every team soon realised I had a reputation for getting catches so they didn’t like to throw the ball to me anymore. Still, incredible considering when I originally started playing I couldn’t catch a single ball being thrown at me.
My younger brother and sister love to randomly throw balls at me at home and call it “dodgeball practice” it’s quite fun and definitely keeps me alert to anything coming my way. I would say that playing dodgeball has increased my reflexes, which is fantastic as I tend to catch things rather than drop them now.
I was once called the “Smiling Assassin” by a player on another team because I kept getting their teammates out with sneaky shots but always with a smile on my face!
I’ve had some remarkable catches, such as;
– The ball bounced off two of my teammates and then came to hit me as well but I caught it, therefore saving my teammates and myself from going out
– Another one, where I have almost dropped the ball three times as it jumped out of my hands and then I have finally caught it
– Catching the ball when I have been the final player in and then with my catch I either win the round or get another player in to help win the round
One of the best parts of playing dodgeball is that I get to play with so many friends or against friends on other teams. I love playing dodgeball and every week I look forward to playing as it is such a friendly family vibe with the tight-knit community of dodgeballers.
Cost:
The cost is $10 per week to cover all weekly fees.
Further information:
Find out more about the Melbourne Dodgeball League, it could be your new favourite sport…