Why dodgeball is the best game for all ages – TheMastermindSite

One of my favourite things to do as a program facilitator? Create activities based on the interests and desires of our kids. Typically, our kids go through phases. For the first half of the year, it was all about the playground. Working to make everyday different, I’d often create games and activities that centered around us being at the playground – knowing that’s where they wanted to spend their time.

For the past few months, it’s been all dodgeball, all the time. At this point, I might just have to name my child ‘Dodge’. All the kids would be obsessed.

Don’t get me wrong! I love creating new activities for our kids. I want them to develop a variety of skills through the depth of our designs, and gain new experiences that they won’t have anywhere else.

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But program planning always needs to be tailored toward the specific interests and desires of the participants in your environment. Yes, we have many program goals to meet. But the main program goal is always to inspire our participants in ways that feel meaningful to them.

When I first started at The Blue, I didn’t love the idea of dodgeball. I saw it as a high-risk, low-reward activity bound to create problems. But in actuality, calculated risk is always a plus in program design, and something that allows for participants to explore their boundaries, develop coping and resiliency skills, and learn valuable life lessons.

I’ve realized this more and more over the past few months. Thinking it through, I’ve come to many realizations as to why it’s the #1 most requested activity. Here is why I think dodgeball might be just about the best activity you can do for kids, and what makes it an accessible activity for all ages and abilities.

ADVANCED TEAMWORK & STRATEGY

In my constant endeavours to make everyday unique, we play a wide variety of dodgeball spin-offs. We never play ones where you’re just eliminated and that’s it, working to maximize participation. But my favourite forms of the game (and the ones the kids seem to love the most too) always involve complex strategy and powerfully intricate team dynamics.

Bench Ball and Doctor Dodge have become our collective favourites, and that’s because they always involve a team huddle before the game kicks off. Playing is fun, but the pre-party is always a highlight too, as it allows participants to feel involved in the process of their own success. Participants get a chance to come up with a collective game-plan, establish roles, and work collaboratively to achieve a common goal (destroying the other team).

As a quick example, we’ve started playing Doctor Dodge with two doctors. This amplifies the strategy, making it all the more confusing for the other team to identify the doctors. It also helps the game flow longer, ensuring participants are never out for long. Typically, it’s only a matter of seconds. But the best part of Double Doctor Dodge is that when someone gets hit, we all rush to that person collectively as a group, blocking balls and tapping our friends until they’re touched by the actual doctor.

If you think Double Doctor Dodge sounds cool, wait until you hear about Bench Ball. For the unfamiliar, ‘Bench’ works like a normal game of dodge, but you have to get all of your players onto the other team’s bench in order to win. It’s always my favourite, as you have to think strategically about the order at which you get your team onto the other team’s bench, whilst navigating flying objects, and a complex set of rules that allow for further strategy to thrive. The variabilities of when to get onto the bench, who to get on the bench, and even when to come off the bench, allow participants to make calculated risks based on the information available at the time. What a life skill that is to learn. The complexities not only develop problem solving skills and critical thinking, but genuine teamwork and communication skills that can’t as easily be acquired in many of the typical games you’d find at After School programs across the country (I know, I’m a bragger).

PARTICIPATION & MASTERY

One of the beautiful things about this dodgeball kick – it’s replaced everyone’s favourite question. ‘What’s for snack?’ has been firmly replaced with ‘Can we play dodgeball?’, and I never want to go back. I’d say that 75-90% of our participants not only want to join, but ask about it daily. Not only do the vast majority of our grade 1-6 participants love the sport, but they’re also genuinely impressive on the court. We often make our doctors the smaller, nimble grade 1-2’s, because they never seem to get hit and can more easily cover their bodies by a single ball. Our 5’s, 6’s, and youth volunteers have just as much fun, but sometimes only equal success despite their stronger muscular capacity. It’s been an ideal game for participants of varying ages to learn more about each other, have open dialogue for the first time, and start to establish connections with new friends.

As new friendships form and participants develop genuine respect for the abilities of their peers, I’ve also witnessed the incredible improvement of every child when it comes to tangible skills. This is the one super special outcome of persistently doing the same activity. Participants develop their skills with repetition (throwing, catching, dodging, blocking, teamwork and strategy, etc.), and once they see their success, develop the best trait of all – confidence.

Without a doubt, this is one of the main reasons behind their persistence in chasing their dodgeball dreams. Very few other activities make so many of our participants feel as competent and confident as what they’re currently getting out of dodgeball. This is incredibly powerful in the grand scheme of our desire to impact participants on a personal level, and develop them as people. We’re teaching them sport-specific skills that apply to a range of tasks they’ll complete in their lives. But also coping, resiliency, teamwork, communication, and strategic thinking. That’s the power of dodgeball, and why I look forward to playing alongside them every single day. I can visibly see the growth. I can challenge them to continue growing.

With that, if you’re hesitant about integrating dodgeball into your programs just like I was a few years ago, you may want to give the sport a second chance. The more you add complexity, the more you work to maximize participation, and the more layers of teamwork and strategy you add into the mix, the more likely it is that participants will develop new skills and look forward to playing every single day.

Thanks for reading and see you soon!