What was Physical Education about in elementary school, if not for dodgeball?  We may have learned it within the hallowed walls of the gymnasium, but kids could be found playing dodgeball in playgrounds, backyards and even in the streets (if there weren’t cars coming).

The rules are simple.  Well, kind of.  Players usually split into two teams, though one-on-one dodgeball games have been known to happen.  Usually, the game is play with one ball, though there can be more involved.  The objective: Hit your opponent, thus eliminating them from the game.  In many versions of dodgeball, if you catch the ball being thrown at you, the game reverses and you can tag someone from the opposing team and as a bonus, if the ball is caught, the thrower is out of the game.  Most importantly, you can’t leave your half of the court (or square, if it was divided that way).

There are a plethora of variations, though the most important aspect of dodge ball lies within the social factors involved in the formation of teams.  First and foremost, you join your friends.  You want people on your side, and you want to defeat your enemies.  Depending on the animosity between the two teams, the game can get rough-- vindictive, even.  And it’s okay.  In fact, socially, it was encouraged.  The real object of the game is who can outlast and have the bragging rights at the end of the day (and to hopefully avoid serious injury, though that usually came second to winning.)  The team with the strongest, most agile and athletic members won, and made dodge ball an early determinant of the social strata at school.