OPINION: The 5 most frustrating ways to get out in a match

Dodgeball, as we know, has a ton of different ways for a player to get out in a match. From what I’ve heard, most participants would say that catching a throw in the face is the hardest way to get out of a match; but is it the most frustrating way to get out? The type of eliminator that makes a player roll their eyes, groan and trudge off the court in complete frustration or disbelief? Here are my 5 most frustrating ways to get out, and I’d love to see what other people think. If you have an opinion, please add to the comments section!

5. Unreal athletic catches – I don’t mean a regular catch where you throw at someone and it goes right for the chest/gut area. I’m thinking about a Kevin Bailey v. Michigan State during the GVSU blue jersey era. For those who don’t know, Kevin laid out completely in mid air to make the match saving catch. The legend also says that with that catch also came the birth of Kevin’s ego, but I digress. I’ve seen so many instances where a player makes a perfect throw, or a near perfect throw and someone out of nowhere grabs it to make a huge momentum swing. For me this was especially annoying knowing that I did not have a powerful arm, so I had to rely on ball placement rather than speed to get players out.

4. The headshot – Other than getting hit the nether region, nothing hurts more than getting your face blasted by a ball at full speed. Not only does it hurt like crazy, but the opposing team and crowd goes nuts, and the player on the receiving end can feel utterly demoralized. The face shot is an exciting, momentum swinging play, and man does it suck to be on the wrong end of one.

3. Toe tappers – Speaking of utterly demoralizing situations, a good toe tapper would drive me nuts during my time on the court. While not being a true giant, I am on the taller side of things, so sometimes bending over to block a low throw took longer than I thought it would need to. Also, I just have giant feet that become easy targets at times. I love being the guy throwing toe taps, but I despise being hit in the feet.

2. Teammate blocking your line of sight – This is just simple. One of your teammates ducks out of the way of a ball right before it gets to them and it hits you. These situations don’t give you a chance to track the throw to either make a play or get out of its way. At this point not only is it on the player for getting hit, but they have to have the awkward exchange with the ducking teammate to have to figure out what the heck just happened.

  1. Line Violation – Did I mention I have big feet? Stepping on the throwing line is my most frustrating way to get out because it is completely in a player’s control. The other part that plays into this is that every court is different, which means that throwing lines can be hard to find. No offense to WKU, they’re just my best example, the throwing line on their blue courts at Nationals 2015 were so abnormal that I watched player after player get out over such a small thing. Also, it can sometimes be a total judgment call by the official, who as much as they try to be, are not perfect. I even recall one particular host team that called me out on a line violation and the video proved it wrong. This reached my pinnacle because it’s such a small thing that can become such a big factor.

Author: ssmith19

Former Captain and Vice-President of Towson Dodgeball. Sporting #19, Sean's talents as a content writer range from previews, interviews, postgames, and excessive uses of both satire and sarcasm. Also, he is the first person to bring some much needed East Coast flavor to the NCDA site.

One thought on “OPINION: The 5 most frustrating ways to get out in a match”

  1. Wrong. The most frustrating way to get out is you catch their throw, they don’t leave the court because of poor sportsmanship, and then they get you out later. Speaking from experience unfortunately.

Leave a Reply to Hunter Ford Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.