Dodgeball and Touch Football

Dodgeball. I personally cringe at the thought of playing it. Perhaps because I have no eye-hand coordination. Read: I instinctively close my eyes when a ball is headed straight for me, therefore, it’s difficult for my hands to figure out where to properly place themselves. Other Pixies thought of this one but since I think it’s only for a few personality types, I included Touch Football as well. But before I begin, did you know that there is a National Dodgeball League?? I thought it was a joke—given one of my favorite movies is Dodgeball — but here is its official website theNDL.com.

I was going to say Dodgeball is for men with testosterone but I think the people most attracted to this game are going to be the logical types. People who wouldn’t take it as personally if you tagged them out. So, this is for the Structures at your summer party—Classic Structure, Fun Structure, Smart Structure—with the exception of Organic Structure. I’m a Classic Freedom and it’s not like I’d hold a grudge forever if tagged out because it’s just a game. But, I might be annoyed if it stung. I mean, let’s say I played Dodgeball this summer with a group of friends and my husband was on the opposing team. In this scenario, he gently hits me with a ball to tag me out — a likely outcome as he’s a more coordinated person than I am. Would I be angry? No. Would he get lucky that night? Probably not.

Now, with Tag Football, you might get a few Freedoms — Fun Freedoms, Classic Freedoms, Organic Freedoms plus Organic Structures — to join in. Often it’ll be the ones who grew up loving football or played it. Football is now officially America’s pastime so you might just get a full smattering of players. It’s usually more fun if it’s not all guys or semi-pros playing because then quarterbacks have to actually be skilled enough to throw to players like me who lack eye-hand coordination, or as I said yesterday, people like me who shut their eyes when a ball is hurtling toward them.

Dodgeball Rules

There are not many hard and fast rules of this game. The objective of each team is to eliminate everyone on the opposing team by hitting them with balls, catching balls thrown by the opposing team, or forcing them to move outside of the agreed upon court boundaries when throwing a ball at them. The same number of players needed on each side. Prior to starting the game, both teams need to agree upon a minimum number of players to start the game and then a maximum number of players permitted on the court at any given time. Usually, the starting number and the maximum are the same.

After a player is eliminated, he may re-enter play if another player on his team catches an opponent’s ball. You can either resurrect players in the order that they were defeated or let the catching player choose the player to resurrect.

Touch Football Rules (with links to some Wikipedia definitions)

The rules are basically the same as in American football — apologies to the entire United States but we do have some international readers — but instead of tackling players, defensive players only have to touch the ball carrier to end a down. You decide whether it has to be a one-hand or two-hand touch, which simply indicates the number of hands a defensive player must place on the ball carrier to end a down.

The rules of the game do not have to be exactly the same as in an official game of American football. The friendlier you make the game, the more people will be interested in playing. For example, you can play with two players on each side or as many as eleven. You also don’t have to have super formal positions for each player. You could consider all players eligible receivers and eliminate running backs — one of their primary roles is to receive handoffs from the quarterback, “QB,” in a rushing play so not exactly useful in a touch game where most plays are passing ones. There also doesn’t have to be a snapper as the the QB can initiate play by hovering the ball above the line of scrimmage and then pull it backward to simulate a snap.

A few other things to consider if you’re having a more genteel game without effective blocking, you can have a blitz count, which is a period of time that must elapse after the snap before defensive can cross the line of scrimmage and attempt to touch the QB. If you go the blitz count route, you also might want to consider a QB sneak rule, which prevents the quarterback from taking unfair advantage of the blitz count by preventing the quarterback from crossing the line of scrimmage before the blitz count is finished.

As this game will likely not be played on a regulation size field. You can either use landmarks for downs or consider a certain number of pass completions as a first down. Another option is to eliminate first downs entirely and just give each team four chances to score a touchdown — you can assign six point or one to it. You can also create a full-time QB — good to do if you have one really good one — and eliminate the need for a blitz count by prohibiting the QB from ever crossing the line of scrimmage. Also, you can eliminate extra points, punts or kickoffs by just having the line of scrimmage start at the “20-yard line” or whatever the equivalent is. There are actually MANY more variations so read on at Wikipedia if you’re interested. But, I think you’re set for a fun, casual game.