Dodge Ball

Now that I teach elementary PE we don't play much dodge ball. There are too many injuries! These younger kids just can't take a good ole dodge ball to the melon like a jr/senior high student can. Any time I talk about dodge ball it brings me back to one particular game....

A few years ago I co-taught a PE class with about 45 jr high boys in it.(I'll be telling several stories about this class later) One of the boys' favorite games was dodge ball, like every other boys PE class in America. They had even more fun if they could get the two coaches to play. I should have known better. I'm a very competitive person and I want to win every game I play no matter what it is, which is where this story goes bad.

As we're playing I'm knocking kids out left and right(remember they're only in the 7th grade) and the kids on my team start chanting my name. I went into the zone and totally forgot wear I was! I starting firing dodge balls off like missiles and they were connecting! Well I didn't notice that all of my team had been knocked out but me, AND the other team had all the dodge balls on their side.

There were about 5 boys left and they huddled up to make a game plan....oh wait what is that I see? An extra dodge ball in the corner! I ran over to get the ball and with every bit of strength I left, I chunked it right in the middle of their huddle.

This is where time seemed to stop....everything moved in slow motion...I saw most of the boys diving or scattering away.....except for one.....boom! If you take a look at the picture above this you can kind of get an idea of what happened next. I'm pretty sure the ball wrapped AROUND his head as it nailed him right in the face! He didn't even move once it hit him....until he fell straight backwards. I'm not going to lie, I thought he was dead. In my mind I'm wondering where I can start looking for a new job. I mean, can you go to jail for killing a student with a dodge ball?

The class went silent. I look at the other coach and he has his hands on his head in disbelief. The everyone burst into laughter, including the kid I hit with the ball. Oh praise the lord! He's not dead!!! I still have a job! BUT lesson learned, do NOT play dodge ball with the students anymore....well maybe.