I'm a sophmore and my school offers a class that all we do is play dodgeball, everyday, for a semester. We use legit dodgeballs that are probably, I'm guessing 1/4 the weight of an actual dodgeball and a bit larger than a softball. We do not use those oversized, rubber, air filled 4-square balls. So I'm wondering, since we play constant dodgeball the whole hour, if playing dodgeball is actually damaging my arm or making it stronger?

I talked to a college coach who told me that the only intramural sport he doesn't allow his players to play is dodgeball because of the stress it puts on their arms. He said he had a pitcher tear his shoulder up and miss an entire season from playing dodgeball.

Just because one person is against the idea doesn't mean it's a terrible idea but it is something to keep in mind.

The worst case of elbow tendonitis my RHP son has ever had came right after he competed in a weekend dodgeball tournament. He says there was no correlation with his dodgeball playing but I think it did have an effect. I am sure others have had good experiences, this is just one persons experience.

I'm not going to say these guys are wrong because I can truly see the things they say happening. My two cents are - if you do play then stretch, grab a ball and throw to warm up like you would if it was baseball. I've never seen anyone play dodgeball and actually warm up. I have seen them run out there, pick up a ball and throw it as hard as they can. I think therein lies the problem.

Plus if you do slow your motion down so it's not max effort. I've seen guys try and throw a dodgeball 10 times harder than they do a baseball. I mean it's PEdodgeball - nobody's going to care if you win or lose.

My gym teacher makes us do jumping jacks and basic arm stretching at the begining of the hour everyday to get us warmed up, so that probably helps to an extent. Buy I've come to the conclusion that this will be my last semester of playing dodgeball. It just isn't worth the risk of ruining my arm for the rest of my life. I've never hurt my arm in any way shape or form and I plan to keep it that way for a long time to come. I mean it's a lot of fun for baseball players to play dodgeball because we have such an advantage over everyone else. And nailing someone in the face is pretty fun once in a while too But I'm not going to take that risk.

The only danger I see is you may start to look like this.

or like this

And Chuck Norris will not deserve what you will come to say to him.

Or worse.

As a gym teacher I used dodgeball to identify youth with strong arms and encourage them to play baseball. I eventually dropped the activity due to a high casualty rate and the reluctance by many to participate. Proper warmup is important to avoid arm injury. I recall hurting my shoulder demonstrating the overhand serve in volleyball and being unable to throw batting practice that spring.

quote:

all we do is play dodgeball, everyday, for a semester

and we wonder why people think our school systems aren't very good.