Kids Stand Up for Embattled Dodge Ball
M E D I N A, Ohio, June 7 -- While educators in several states fight tohave it banned, "dodge ball" is more popular than ever at oneOhio school, where kids delight in bouncing balls off each others'heads.
About 40 students at A.I. Root Middle School have formed a clubin honor of the playground game that has been forbidden in Florida,Texas and other states.
"Oh yeah, it's just a gentle kids' game," principal TomMcKenna sarcastically told The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer as hewatched some of his students take aim.
‘Litigation Waiting to Happen’
In a recent article titled "The Physical Education Hall ofShame" and published in a teaching journal, Neil Williams, aphysical education professor at Eastern Connecticut University,criticized the merits of dodge ball, which also is called sniper,bombardment and war ball.
"Generally speaking, the game is a litigation waiting tohappen," he wrote.
In the game, kids split into teams and throw the ball at theother side. If you're hit by the ball, you're out.
The National Association for Sport and Physical Education, whichrepresents more than 18,000 gym teachers and physical educationprofessors, no longer advocates dodge ball.
Paula Keyes Kun, a spokeswoman for the Virginia-based educationassociation, said dodge ball does not belong in gym classes anymore than comic books belong in English classes.
She said the game encourages the strong to pick on the weak.
For Some Kids, It's a Way to Socialize
Cindy Meyer, a physical educator at Onaway Elementary School inShaker Heights, described the activity as "totally inappropriate —the kind of game we need to get out of the schools."
"It devalues a person. You don't throw things at people," shetold the paper.
Meyer, a gym teacher for 28 years, said some schools have triedto use softer balls and allow players who are hit to stay in thegame.
"It appears to be fun," she said. "But there are too manyother good things to do."
For seventh-grader Erik Steidl, there couldn't be anything better.
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