Did you know that dodgeball is being banned in many schools in the nation.because the nanny politicians, unelected bureaucrats, and judges say it’s unfair, exclusionary, and warlike for school-age youngsters; some schools in Maine, Maryland, New York, Virginia, Texas, Massachusetts and Utah have banned dodgeball, or its variations, including war ball, monster ball and kill ball.
Warlike?
Maybe they should ban violent video games and rap music. They have a more lasting and potentially dangerous impact. I’m not seriously suggesting any ban but these should have gone first.
Bans against games prevent kids from being kids. Schools have banned traditional games at recess and during physical education, as well as in camps, to include Dodgeball, Kick Ball, Wiffle Ball, and Freeze Tag.
The Health Department in New York State also warns camps against Achery, Horseback Riding, Scuba, Capture the Flag, Steal the Bacon and Red Rover. Some schools ban running on the playground.
There were a few lawsuits that drove the decisions but mostly it was unelected bureaucrats in government positions who decided to take the fun out of childhood.
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“Dodgeball is not an appropriate activity for K-12 school physical education programs,” according to The National Association for Sport and Physical Education, a nonprofit professional organization of 20,000 physical education teachers, professors, coaches, athletic directors and trainers. Dodgeball provides “limited opportunities for everyone in the class, especially the slower, less agile students who need the activity the most.”
The rough-and-tumble of fair competition could teach children things, notably, that there are risks in this world, and that sometimes life stings.
These over-the-top prohibitions suck the fun out of life, and eliminating the wisdom and joy that comes from making decisions.
As football’s Vince Lombardi once said, “It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.”
In our zeal to protect our children from any risk of harm, we are shielding them from some of life’s most valuable lessons, the New York Post editorial board wrote in 2013.
Sports deemed too dangerous for recreation, even at camps in New York for example, include freeze tag and wiffle ball, and dodgeball and kickball of course. The state bureaucrats have decided they pose a significant risk of injury.
Classics like Capture the Flag, Steal the Bacon and Red Rover are also deemed dangerous in state regulations for day camps.
The New York State Health Department created a list of supposedly risky recreational activities – which also includes pursuits like archery, scuba and horseback riding – in response to a state law passed in 2009. They are too perilous.
The law sought to close a loophole that legislators said allowed too many indoor camp programs to operate without oversight.
That’s what we all need, government oversight from some anonymous bureaucrat pushing paper around in a state capitol???
Under the 2011 rules, any program that offers two or more organized recreational activities – with at least one of them on the risky list – is deemed a summer camp and subject to state regulation.
The regulations cripple small recreational programs, forcing them to pay a $200 fee to register as a summer camp and provide medical staff.
In 2014, a HuffPo writer warned that dodgeball “elicits dread and terror for some children”. The author claimed it turns children into human targets, allows for bullying, and is humiliating for some students. Moreover, many students are eliminated from the game early, resulting in limited physical activity during the PE class period.
He quoted Patches O’Houlihan, the coach of the team of misfits in an old comedy, Dodgeball, “Dodgeball is a game of humiliation, exclusion and degradation.”
Seriously? He’s taking the words of a comedic stereotypical character from an extremely unidimensional comedy?
It’s true of any sport, you always go for the weakest link to win. That’s life! The smaller kids always get eliminated first. When we played Johnny Ride a Pony, you always jumped on the little guy first! When the guy broke down, you screamed, “Cave In”. It was fun and I was one of the first eliminated!
Dodgeball was great fun too.
All sports can be dangerous. All are competitive.
These are the same people who want everyone to get a trophy. They want to eliminate competition so all can have equal outcomes. That’s not life. There will always be someone bigger, smarter, prettier, stronger but people learn from childhood to find what makes them special. Banning normal kids’ play is nothing more than social engineering
