What do you know- apparently dodgeball is considered a sport, with uniformed teams, organized leagues and everything. (Least amount of equipment ever, the book points out more than once- all you need is a ball!) It’s been played since the early 1900’s and has more rules than I realized- most of which, if they’d been enforced in games at my elementary school, would have made it more fun. I thought back then it was some awful game made up by sadistic gym teachers- or playground bullies- and was constantly afraid of getting hit in the head by a ball. (Most teams have rules against throws aimed at an opponent’s head). There’s even some universities that have dodgeball teams- and one, in 2012, organized the world’s largest dodgeball game ever- on a field with more than 6,000 participants. The number of balls in play were not recorded. The photograph of the event is crazy! Rubber spheres flying everywhere. How anyone kept track of who missed or scored in that game is a mystery to me. Maybe it was one more lax on the rules. Also impressive- this slender book has an comprehensive little index. Arguably not really needed, but better done than a lot of other nonfiction books I’ve seen.
Borrowed from the public library.
