The Supersized PhysEd Podcast
The Supersized Physed Podcast is dedicated to providing new ideas, activities and inspiration to our physical education field. Each week a new episode about various physed topics comes out, sometimes with a guest, sometimes it's just me!
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The Supersized PhysEd Podcast
Rethinking Dodgeball: Creating a Safe and Inclusive PE Curriculum
Hello PE Nation!
Yes, I want to discuss dodgeball once more. Today my episode examines the role of dodgeball in physical education, advocating for its removal from school settings due to its potential to foster bullying, injuries, and an exclusionary environment. I share personal insights, alongside research and alternative activities, emphasizing the need for a more inclusive and beneficial approach to physical education.
• Discussion on the SHAPE position against dodgeball
• Personal experiences showcasing the nostalgia and drawbacks of the game
• Examination of bullying, injuries, and legal concerns related to dodgeball
• Reflection on educator responsibilities and potential alternatives
• Encouragement for PE teachers to reevaluate their approaches and games
• Call to action for adopting a more inclusive curriculum
Thanks for listening,
Dave
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Link to the article: https://pedave1017.substack.com/p/61ff1f39-a9f2-4f04-aca2-4550329a24b7?postPreview=paid&updated=2025-01-26T17%3A39%3A09.996Z&audience=everyone&free_preview=false&freemail=true
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My website: https://www.supersizedphysed.com
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Hello and welcome to the Super Size for Zed podcast. My name is Dave and today I want to talk about dodgeball one more time. Yes, I put out an article recently and I want to go over it step by step, why dodgeball should be banned in PE, and there's also a link to the article in the show notes. So without further ado, here we go. Rip Nation, welcome in.
Speaker 1:So as a preface to this, I want to say I've always loved dodgeball as a kid. I was really good at it. In the article I actually mentioned this. I was at a fourth grade sleepover camp for a few days. It was my first time away from home by myself, and we had a dodgeball tournament and these were again the big red balls that you'd see like kickballs, you'd see in the movie Dodgeball. And I remember I was the last one standing against this. I was an adult, I was a camp counselor and he could throw really hard. I was the last one standing against this. I mean, I was an adult, I was a camp counselor and he could throw really hard. And I remember catching his ball and in my memory I was hoisted on top of people's shoulders and it was like a Rudy moment. It wasn't really, but in my memory that's what it is, and so we're going to go with that. But I love dodgeball. So this isn't about like, oh, coach Carney was picked on as a kid and he doesn't like dodgeball, and so that's why he doesn't want dodgeball for his students. It's not like that.
Speaker 1:Times have changed, standards have changed, teaching has changed, and I think it's time for all of us to change. And so I want to go through a few things as to again my journey into dodgeball and out of it, and why. So let's take this step by step. Number one here we go, all right. Number one is the shape position on dodgeball. And again, shape is our national board ofning PE, it's our national standards, it's our national grade level outcomes. And so here's the exact statement. I want to read this from my phone here. It says this dodgeball is not an appropriate activity for the K-12 school setting because it does not support a positive school climate, the application of appropriate social behaviors or the goal of physical education.
Speaker 1:Now, you would think that would be enough for teachers to stop teaching it, but I know for a fact that a lot of people still teach it. And, by the way and I say this in the paper, but I don't judge anybody and I've actually had a conversation with somebody recently about that. I'm one of the podcasts. I don't judge anybody and say, oh, you're a bad teacher or something about that. I'm one of the podcasts. I don't judge anybody and say, oh, you're a bad teacher or something like that. It's not, that, it's.
Speaker 1:I want to get better as a profession. I think we could teach different things. I know we could teach better things to teach the same grade level outcomes, and I think that's what I'm trying to do. And so I just don't think it's appropriate and neither does shape. So that's the main thing. And also, I'll add, I don't have the book with me, but I know it says kids should not be human targets, and I'm going to dive deeper into that as we go near the end, because there's a spectrum there as far as human targets goes, but as far as launching projectiles into somebody's face, that is not the way to go. So that is number one. The shape position on dodgeball. All right.
Speaker 1:Number two this is going to be me being a little mean, but it's just lazy teaching. It's rolling out a ball and saying go, and it's just not. It's just not teaching it's. It's just, everyone knows how to play dodgeball. Yes, there are rules, yes, there are strategies, but it's just not what we need to be.
Speaker 1:And when I say pushing our profession forward, it's, it's not that this is old school stuff, this is anybody can teach it. This is why do we have PE teachers when we could just have recess managers? Why, I mean, anybody could run a dodgeball session. I've seen it at Sky Zone. There's kids running dodgeball sessions as kids are on trampolines and stuff like that, and to me it's just not imaginative, it's lazy, it's boring. Teaching and there's so many different things we could do. And that's the stereotype, I guess, of our profession, and I hear it all the time oh, what do you guys do? Play dodgeball all day. Well, no, there's a lot of other things we do and there's a lot of games you could play that are more inclusive and you don't have to hide for your life trying to dodge a ball at your face. So, anyways, yeah, let's put in the work, let's teach, let's be better. That's number two, all right.
Speaker 1:Number three dodgeball can lead to bullying and injuries, and I'm going to go through some of the points that people make. Like, oh, I use gator skin balls. We don't use those kickball things like old school and we play no headshots. I've heard that. A ton, no headshots. Well've heard that a ton, no headshots. Well, you know what? I've seen it happen. There's wind. If you play outside, those balls don't always go in the straight line and some kids even like oh, unintentionally hit. You know aim for kids' faces and stuff it's. You can't guarantee no headshots. There's no way you can guarantee that. You can guarantee that they're out if they hit somebody in the face, but you can't guarantee that nobody gets hit in the head. That's just the first one. I've seen it. It happens.
Speaker 1:Um, some people say it's just a game. Oh, we used to play it, it's fine. Well, here's the thing parents have sued schools and districts for incidents relating to dodgeball between, uh, breaking of bones, extensive dental work from being hit and other injuries. If it's a game that's going to be sued, like people are going to be actively suing schools, then you need to stay away from it. I mean, that's just my opinion, but if you're going to do it, you better be really, really careful.
Speaker 1:And the third thing from this main statement, or this main point is you know, oh, I wasn't bullying anyone, we're just playing it, hey. Well, you know, I've seen it. You know the physically stronger, the dominant ones, are going against the weaker ones and they try to limit them first for the most part and I know, life isn't fair and you got to toughen up and rub some dirt on it I agree with a lot of that. But you know, just targeting somebody on purpose just isn't the answer and it leads to really, really hard feelings, bad feelings, kids being upset. It's just not worth it. So that is number three. All right. Number four is my wife said so. So this was my come to dodgeball moment. Let's just call it.
Speaker 1:I did not know what I didn't know when I started teaching PE. It was around 2011. I was barely on social media, definitely not on Twitter. I thought that was for following around the Kardashians and stuff. I didn't know anything about that. When I started getting on social media and starting having these conversations on Twitter and on Voxer and Facebook groups, things like that, I didn't even know there was a debate. And then I started hearing about hey, dodgeball is not the best practice or not a best practice. And I was playing dodgeball with my students. I was literally throwing dodgeballs gator skin balls at my students with my other paras In my second year teaching.
Speaker 1:It was me and three other guys, paras, and we had a good time, but I mean teaching wise, it was just not a great year Again. We had a lot of fun, did a lot of dodgeball, all that stuff. But if I'm looking back I'm like I was not a good teacher back then and part of it was because we played dodgeball probably quite a bit. So back to my wife One day she said to me I hated PE and especially dodgeball. I would hide behind the basketball poles and in the corners, I just didn't want to get hit. And I know it sounds crazy now, but that really blew me away.
Speaker 1:I loved PE growing up. It was my favorite, except for swimming. I hated that. That was awful, but I loved PE. And for anyone to say that they didn't like PE, that didn't register with me. I know it sounds crazy, but it didn't. And when she explained that to me it woke me up and I was like, huh, maybe everyone wasn't as athletic as me and I'm not saying I was a star athlete, but I was a good athlete and maybe not everybody loved PE. And that was like, oh, I couldn't believe it, but it's true. And so I just think we need to be better for those kind of students, the quieter ones, the ones that want to just survive PE and go to their other classes and those kinds of things. So it would be better for those students. I was letting them down and I just found out that, hey, I need to change. So that was number four. My wife said so, all right.
Speaker 1:The fifth reason that kind of ties everything together, I think, is I've seen it in person, and not just from children. When they play dodgeball, things get out of hand. So once I really took a look at everything, here's what I really saw when I really stepped back and took a look. First of all, kids were cheating, and I know they cheat in like every game. I trust me, I get it, but a lot of oh I got you and then no, you didn't. That happens, oh my gosh, all the time, and it just it was too much. I noticed the stronger kids, especially the ones that played like baseball or had good arms, would always dominate and sometimes even taunted the other kids. I mean not all the time, but it happens or it happened.
Speaker 1:The next one is the intensity between the children and teams. Intensified Feelings got hurt. We kind of went over that, but it just got too much and then sometimes it would spill over into the classroom. There's bad sportsmanship, things like that, and the clinic visits went up and it's hard to justify that. Be like, yeah, we were playing dodgeball and someone hit in the face. I'm like it's just not good.
Speaker 1:And some years back I'm not going to say the exact name of this thing because I don't want to call anybody out exactly but there was an alternative or dodgeball alternative session at a Shaped Florida convention I went to this is a good at least five years ago, maybe more, and I was like, okay, there's going to be a new dodgeball game, I mean without being dodgeball but something like it. Well, it was just dodgeball with frisbees. I mean that's all it was. It wasn't the hard plastic ones, but it was Frisbees. You're hitting people, they're getting out and they're getting back in and all that stuff. And you know it goes back to. You know I watched adults acting like this. Adults were cheating, they were taunting, they were yelling, they had bad sportsmanship. It was all from adults. And so I'm like this is just ridiculous. So I just had to stop. Ridiculous. So I just had to stop and it was just it.
Speaker 1:You know I'll tell you the next part how I kind of got rid of it. But you know I had to. I had to do something and change. So that is number five. All right, number six is kind of the the how I kicked the habit. I didn't quit altogether one day. I just said we're done. I phased it out. It just became less and less dodgeball. We did more, just different activities, and it became more of a once-a-month game than a once-a-quarter game, than maybe once a semester on a special day game. And I talked to the older kids about it. They would have what happened to dodgeball and I would tell them and just like you know, I'm just going to kind of get rid of that and go on to some other games and I gave them some of the reasons. Some of them, of course, didn't like it. And again, if you or anybody else plays it in summer camp I guess I didn't say this earlier like we used to run a summer camp here in my community and we would play dodgeball. But if the parents are paying for it and there's waivers and the kids enjoy it. To me, it's not the same as in a physical education setting. If it's a summer camp or if it's after school or if it's an adult league, fine, good, but not in school. And so I'm going to go back. Wow, it's going to be almost 10 years, 2015,.
Speaker 1:The National PE Summit in Asheville, north Carolina. I met everybody that summer. It was amazing All of my mentors from afar, all the PE gurus back then and even now. And one of them and still is is Joey Feith from the physicaleducatorcom. He taught us a game called Prairie Dog Pickoff and it's still on his website. I'll have a link to it and it's actually. The link is in my article, so I'm not going to go over the whole game right now, but it's definitely been a staple ever since then.
Speaker 1:You're aiming at pins and kids are protecting the pins. I mean, that's the main thing. You're aiming at pins, not people. Now, do kids get hit? Sometimes, of course, because they're guarding the pin, and if I ever see anybody trying to throw at somebody, they're out immediately.
Speaker 1:This is all about throwing at pins, and there's different levels. He calls them builds and you know that's one of our favorite games. Our other favorite game I've talked about is rollout, where the kids are sitting in a circle. They're just sitting on the ground in a circle rolling a ball at people's feet. If they get out they switch with them. Now I did just get a gaga ball pit and that to me is it's the finest line I've been walking. I'm hoping I'm not, I don't know. I don't want to be hypocritical because to me that's the closest thing to dodgeball. It's still rolling the ball at people's feet up to their knees. It's definitely not headshots, it's definitely not anything higher than knees or they're out, and it's rolling the ball or kind of swatting on it. A lot of you have played it. That's the finest line I walk. So I'm not gonna lie and say I don't play that, we just got the pit. It's like a three thousand dollar pit, inflatable, so, and the kids love it.
Speaker 1:But I try to give them alternatives to dodgeball, like just flat out thrown at people's faces. So, like I said, there's a spectrum. There's people on one end of the spectrum. I've heard this is a while ago. I don't know if people still adhere to this, but when they say kids should not be human targets, you know there's some educators that say well, wait, wait, wait. So then they shouldn't be. You shouldn't be able to play tag because they're targets when you tag, like that's the far end of the spectrum and the other end is, like you know the, the movie dodgeball and just like gladiators going after each other with kickballs. That's the other far end. I'm definitely somewhere in the middle. But not dodgeball, not straight up dodgeball, not ever dodgeball Again, gaga ball is the closest thing, I would say, and then aiming at pins. So again, I don't judge anybody, I'm just trying to give you the facts and give you my opinions.
Speaker 1:So let's go to our cowbell tip of the day. All right, everybody, for your tip of the day, I say just take a look at your program. If you still play dodgeball, I hope you can justify it, especially if you get in trouble. I mean, some states, it's banned, or some districts, it's definitely banned in states and you know I'm just I want you to be covered and I also. I just don't think you have a leg to stand on when it comes to legality. So definitely be careful if you're doing dodgeball and you know there are many alternatives out there. So please take a look at your program, if nothing else, and see if you are playing some of these. You know games with where kids can get really hurt, not just dodgeball, but any game.
Speaker 1:Take a look at your program and see where you can really reflect on. You know your program, what you want for your program and what your students need for your program. And I will leave you with this. A lot of times when there's people over my like we go over my parents' house and my brother's there, my whole family's there. He'll say to people that line from School of Rock about me being a PE teacher. He's like you know what they say those who can't do teach and those who can't teach teach PE. And I hate that. I hate that for me. I hate that for us. We need to do better and I just want you to think about that, because that's terrible and that is your cowbell tip of the day.
Speaker 1:Thank you everybody for tuning in today. I really do appreciate it. As always, go to supersizefizadcom for more information and, as of right now, my book, my High Fives and Empowering Lives book, is free to download. I will leave a link in the episode notes and the show notes, so please check that out. All I ask is for a review if you read it and you liked it. And also join me on Substack. That's where I have a lot of my conversations with educators and other people in other fields, so I'd love for you to join me there and that's where I also write a lot of my articles and put them out. So join me on Substack. That'd be awesome and you are awesome. Pe Nation. Take care and let's keep pushing our profession forward. Thank you.
