Physical Flexibility
Being physically flexible as a youngster was not my forte. I remember elementary gym class where we were required to do stretching exercises and basic gymnastics. I hovered at the bottom of the totem pole. Touching my toes, only if I bent my knees. Front and side splits, forget about it. Back bends made me dizzy. Furthermore, I was not willing to work at it. So I stayed physically stiff and certainly not gymnastics material.
But I LOVED dodgeball. For me dodgeball was about strategy, grit and releasing pent up energy.
I think this is one of the reasons why gym teachers loved Friday dodgeball. A great way to expel all that extra emotional and physical adrenaline. Get it out on the court, so it didn’t inappropriately manifest itself and send you to the principal’s office.
Another reason is the gym teachers/coaches can tell a great deal about a student/player by how they conduct themselves on the court. True personalities surface when a little team competition is involved.
Yes, dodgeball did expose the class bullies that felt the need to exercise their power over us minions. But the key was solid, hyper-aware gym teachers calling the shots. Making sure no one kid or gang of kids were dominating the play. There were wipeouts, tears and bruised egos, but man it…
