Gym Game Is Unable to Dodge School Policy Shifts

Dodge ball, the venerable gym class game in which the point is to peg a peer, has long been cherished by bullies (who view it as stress relief) and reviled by less athletic students (who expect to get hit every game).

But now the target is the game itself. Many school systems have begun to view it as inappropriate for the physical education curriculum. Here in Cecil County, school officials have moved to ban dodge ball and any other “activities requiring human targets.” The school board is expected to vote as early as January.

There are countless versions of the game of dodge ball, but in most, players fire balls at classmates, and if you’re hit, you’re eliminated.

Notion of Teamwork, Dodge Ball Don’t Mix

Dodge ball policy debates abound nationwide. Education officials argue that the game is not aligned with school-taught values, such as teamwork. They say the rule that any player hit sits out means kids will not be physically active for long chunks of class. And they say that frequent targets may lose self-esteem.

“The notion of throwing things at people, pegging people with other objects, is a thing contrary to what we’re teaching elsewhere in school--being supportive of each other, working together,” says Judith C. Young, executive director of the National Assn. for Sport and Physical Education, which advises school districts on health and physical education.

“The people who are least skillful and need the most practice get eliminated first,” Young says. “The best PE programs now try to be sensitive to getting kids to like physical activity. We need them to get good so they don’t feel like a klutz or spaz whenever anyone suggests doing something active.”

Some gym teachers aren’t taking the salvo lightly. They say they have adapted the game of dodge ball to make it safer, using foam balls in place of rubber ones. They have also altered the rules to ensure that students struck by the ball can stay in the game. They say they will fight the demise of a game they turn to when searching for a cardiovascular activity that students enjoy.

‘You can tell kids to go on the track, but they don’t like it. You’re fighting with them,” says Ed Langan, athletic director and gym teacher at Elkton High School.

He has students play “crossover” dodge ball, in which players hit by a ball are demoted to a second-tier team but never sit out.

“It’s amazing the way kids play the game--kids come out ringing wet, and that’s our objective. We’re not there trying to hurt anyone,” adds Langan, who says many gym teachers fear that language banning “human targets” in school policy could, if interpreted broadly, affect other sports, such as kickball, soccer and hockey.

‘Human Target’ Issue Delays Policy Vote

This question of what constitutes a “human target” was thorny enough to postpone a vote in Cecil County earlier this month. The five-member school board asked staffers to revise their proposed policy to better define “human target” and more specifically outline what games they were trying to ban.

Cecil County school officials--who insist that they were just tweaking language in a policy and that it was not an assault specifically aimed at dodge ball--say they have been caught off guard by the firestorm of interest since the issue was raised.

The school board has been tight-lipped on the dodge ball issue. One member, Glenn Jensen, refused to comment and says the board has designated its president, Lisa Koch, to handle all dodge ball media inquiries. Koch did not return several phone calls placed to her home and refused to discuss the issue when reached at work Friday.

Cecil is not unlike many school systems around the country that have replaced traditional gym class--which often included hard-nosed games of dodge ball, basketball or kickball--with a friendlier approach that favors individual exercise regimens or smaller game activities with small teams.

Some systems don’t encourage the use of dodge ball in gym class but don’t specifically ban it. In Baltimore County, for example, school system spokesman Charles Herndon says dodge ball would not fit into the physical education curriculum set by school officials but adds that he doesn’t know of a policy specifically prohibiting the game.

All the anti-dodge-ball talk has irked Rick Hanetho, director of the National Amateur Dodge Ball Assn., an Illinois-based group that formed this year to resurrect interest in the game and now holds an annual tournament involving children as young as fourth-graders.

“Just open up the paper and you hear about parents getting in fights at tee-ball games,” Hanetho says. “With all the negative things happening in youth sports, to pick on dodge ball seems silly.”