Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
It’s only dodgeball, right? Not when it comes to World Cup
NEW YORK — Dodgeball is not just a Ben Stiller movie or anxiety-inducing gym class activity. It’s a professional sport.
That’s no Vince Vaughn joke. The World Dodgeball Association , founded in 2013, is holding its second World Cup — this weekend in New York. Thirteen countries, including the U.S., will be represented at Madison Square Garden on Saturday for the biennial tournament.
And no, it won’t be on the “Ocho,” the fictional ESPN channel featured in “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story,” the 2004 movie. Instead, ESPN2 will broadcast a program on the competition Wednesday at 5 p.m. PDT.
At the first cup, in 2016, host England won men’s and mixed doubles championships, and Australia took the women’s title, in Manchester.
Don’t look for players to cower behind friends as opponents hurl red rubber balls at each other — a common occurrence in middle school gyms for years before the sport was eliminated from many curriculums due to complaints that the game promoted bullying and violence.
Dodgeball has an official rulebook and serious athletes.
In fact, there are many games that were popularized in parks, schoolyards and even novels that have evolved into pro sports leagues with tournaments for the devoted.
One such example is the World Adult Kickball Association.
Better known as WAKA Kickball, this 21-and-over league is making the playground adult-friendly. The field is set up just like one in elementary school — four bases and a pitcher’s mound, usually those floppy rubber ones. A rubber ball is pitched underhand across home plate and toward an opposing player, who will try to kick it then take off toward first. Defense can get a forceout at the base, tag the runner with the ball or throw it at him or her, as long as it hits below the shoulders.
Games last five innings of three outs each per team.
There’s an annual Founders Cup World Kickball Championship in Las Vegas. This year’s will be on Oct. 6.