2008 Woodie Awards
'Ready...Set...Dodgeball!'
Crazy at Cal: Dodgeball heats up the tennis courts
Ben Watanabe
Issue: 7/14/08 Section: Sports
While passing by Cal Anderson Park on Pike and Broadway, look for the horde of people on the tennis court. Every Tuesday and Friday night they come looking for a game. Playing on half of a tennis court, they face each other perpendicular to the length of the court, waiting patiently against the fence for the organizer to call out, "Ready... Set... Dodgeball!"
At least 70 people from all walks of life rush the center line grabbing wildly for a ball. With music blaring from a boom box around center court, the balls slam against bodies and fencing. These aren't the soft padded cushion balls from middle school. These balls are the inflated rubber ones with the textured skin for extra grip. These are the balls that leave the skin screaming for mercy after a vicious blow.
"At first it's kind of intimidating, because you don't want to offend anybody because you don't know the rules," said Lucas Boyle, a digital design major at Seattle University. "But after a while you get into your comfort level, and it's just fun."
After walking by a dodgeball game on a Friday night, Boyle stopped to observe one match. The week after his spectator status, he decided to play because he didn't have much to do on Friday nights. Playing for only four weeks, Boyle's a novice compared to some of the other players.
A fellow student at Seattle U, Mike Stock, is a veteran of dodgeball after several months in the game. Stock, an English and theater major, started playing after his friends invited him to play.
"It used to be only about like 20 of us, and now it's gotten to like 80 or 90," said Stock.
Trying to discover who began the dodgeball matches is nearly impossible. Between the highly intoxicated man against the fence explaining it's been happening for at least four or five years and several women claiming they're the founders, one thing is certain. If there are balls, people will play.
One of the women said to be a founder is Erin Grise. By day she's an employee at Whole Foods Market on Westlake Avenue. By Tuesday and Friday nights, she's a fiery organizer and facilitator. Grise tried to start dodgeball games last year but couldn't find people to play with until this April.
At least 70 people from all walks of life rush the center line grabbing wildly for a ball. With music blaring from a boom box around center court, the balls slam against bodies and fencing. These aren't the soft padded cushion balls from middle school. These balls are the inflated rubber ones with the textured skin for extra grip. These are the balls that leave the skin screaming for mercy after a vicious blow.
"At first it's kind of intimidating, because you don't want to offend anybody because you don't know the rules," said Lucas Boyle, a digital design major at Seattle University. "But after a while you get into your comfort level, and it's just fun."
After walking by a dodgeball game on a Friday night, Boyle stopped to observe one match. The week after his spectator status, he decided to play because he didn't have much to do on Friday nights. Playing for only four weeks, Boyle's a novice compared to some of the other players.
A fellow student at Seattle U, Mike Stock, is a veteran of dodgeball after several months in the game. Stock, an English and theater major, started playing after his friends invited him to play.
"It used to be only about like 20 of us, and now it's gotten to like 80 or 90," said Stock.
Trying to discover who began the dodgeball matches is nearly impossible. Between the highly intoxicated man against the fence explaining it's been happening for at least four or five years and several women claiming they're the founders, one thing is certain. If there are balls, people will play.
One of the women said to be a founder is Erin Grise. By day she's an employee at Whole Foods Market on Westlake Avenue. By Tuesday and Friday nights, she's a fiery organizer and facilitator. Grise tried to start dodgeball games last year but couldn't find people to play with until this April.
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