I’d rather play Calvinball…
I played Bombardment in grade school. At the time, I’d always mispronouce the game as “bombardamin”. The PE teacher would use the “1,2,1,2…” to split us up into separate teams on the basketball court. We used the rubber playground balls. According to our rules, you could be out by being hit or your ball being caught on the fly. Those who were out could get back in when the player who got you out is put out themself. This resulted in kids on the sidelines clamoring for a certain player to be hit so they could get back in! This also resulted in very long games, I think the closest we got to ever finishing a game was when I was the last one on my team. I was never good at getting anyone out, but I somehow managed to throw the ball and hit Rodney Fultz square on the knees! That was great! Of course, everyone that Rod got out could get back in, and the game went on.
We had slightly different rules. You got out by getting hit by a ball (on the fly). When you were “out,” you went around behind the other team and became an “ender.” This way, either team could get hit from in front or behind. If someone on your team caught a ball, the last “ender” went back in with the main team. The team that ends up with everyone out loses. In tournament play (5th and 6th grades) we played with one ball.
There was one guy in my class who had uncanny aim and a murderous throw. People would actually run away from him. I can still recall one guy climbing the fence, trying to get away. The player nailed him on his ass, and the guy fell off the fence.
In high school, we played an indoor version (“killball”)with several balls in a small activity room. There were no enders, but if you were holding a ball and used it do deflect a throw coming towards you into the ceiling, you were out. It was rumored that one of the sadistic PE teachers had a class play this with the lights off, and someone’s nose was broken.
They always tried to make me goalie in floor hockey (and soccer), too. I say tried because I simply refused to do anything in goal and let every shot go by. Having me play goalie was the same as having an open net. 
I didn’t even pretend to try and block shots. I would just stand there in the middle and watch the shots go by. After a few goals were scored, they would pull me out and have me play another position, which is what I wanted in the first place.
Anyway, when I played dodgeball in elementary and middle school, we used yarn balls. They were about the size of a softball and flew pretty well, and didn’t hurt on impact. We used the generic rubber gym balls in high school, though. I didn’t know of the different versions of the rules until reading this thread. The rules we used were: you were out if you got hit by a ball on the fly, the thrower was out if your ball was caught on the fly, and if you caught a ball then a player on your team who was out comes back in (players came back in the order they were out).
Count off 1-2, 1-2, what kind of childhood trauma were they shooting for? We picked teams the old-fashioned, maximal trauma-inducing way: captains chose teams.
The coach would pick the captains - always favored members of whatever sport was in season - and they would call out names. We candidates stood on the sidelines, trying to be cool. “Grant”; “Paul”; “Steve”; “Jim S.”; “Umm, Greg”; “OK, Joe”; and on down the line to “Jamie”; “Ken”; and “Bill W.”.
God, I am so glad I wasn’t Jamie, Ken or Bill W. I was usually in the middle somewhere, sometimes in the top 10. I was pretty good at ‘KillBall’, the secret being my great ability to catch thrown balls.
We used 4 volleyballs, teams were about 20 each side. The game went on all period – when you were hit, you were out, but you could be brought back in by someone catching a ball. The guys who were out queued up to get back in.
Usually at some point only the strong would be left, and the top of the queue would be the weak (Jamie, Ken, and Bill W.) You’d have to catch balls to bring them in, let them get hit, then catch more balls to bring in some good players. There was a lot of strategy involved, and some great comebacks, too.
It was violent, pointless, and demeaning. Kind of like real life. I suspect more useful life lessons were taught on the KillBall court than in any ‘social studies’ course.
Unlike most other team sports in gym class, dodgeball never involved “choosing sides” That alone should redeem its bad reputation.
I suspect its demise is due to hack televison writers making it into a handy device to establish the underdog qualities of their protagonists. Or maybe because its too low-tech (aren’t laser tag and paint-ball just pricey upgrades of dodgeball?)
In real life, the games we kids played in our backyards made dodgeball look pretty tame: smear, king-of-the-hill, dog-pile, and a truly wicked game wherein we’d shoot a hunting arrow straight up and a dozen kids would try not to collide with eachother as they ran for cover.
What myopic ectomorphic introverted I loved about dodgeball was that you didn’t have to be strong or coordinated or popular or even had to hold any expectation of winning. you just had to display bravery. That is a wonderful sensation.
I was the fattest guy in elementary school. I had no lateral movement to speak of, threw worse than a 4-year old girl and caught a little better. Funny thing though, I always seem to be the last person standing on my side in a dodgeball game. And the other side takes about five minutes to finish me off.
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[Edited by UncleBeer on 05-22-2001 at 07:25 AM]
I just want to say… A> I was one of the nerdy kids, but physically larger. So I loved Dodgeball… because I could compete athletically here with the kids that normally teased me and stuff…
B> Dodgeball compares NAUGHT to this one game we played. I can’t remember what it was called. We put Nets at either side of a basketball court, and played with this hard ball that was about the size of small soccer ball. (Smaller than a size 5… maybe 3/2?) And basically, it was polo w/o the water, combined with the physical aggression of hockey! (you could only shoot at the goal from behind the 3 point line.) I don’t remember what the PE teachers called this, “game”. But if ever a game deserved to be banned in HS PE, it is this game. I was literally slammed into bleachers, which I could take. But I know other students who just basically would sit out and flunk this part of PE because they were just afraid to play.