Over the weekend I participated in a dodgeball tournament, not the first time I'd engaged in that sort of endeavor, but this time was different: it was a tournament with 8.5 rubber balls, also known as "hard rubber," as opposed to the ones I'm more familiar with and used primarily throughout the Los Angeles recreational dodgeball scene, the soft no-sting ball, aka "soft rubber."
I and many others prefer soft rubber. Putting aside I am more adept at the no-sting ball including being able to grip it, throw it, control it, how it bounces off walls, etc., hard rubber is also much more PAINFUL, as in, it STINGS (as opposed to no-sting). Get hit almost anywhere in your body and one's body will hurt, but it also matters how direct the hit is on one's body: skimming shots (barely touching and going by) are fine, glancing blows (hit and go off to the side) are tolerable, but direct shots (hit and bounce straight off someone's body) are painful, no matter how "tough" one is. I have bruises in several parts of my body to prove that they leave a mark. Especially since some some professional dodgeball players can throw a baseball 90 MPH + and a hard rubber dodgeball not much slower, it can really cause some damage to the body.
All that wouldn't be a major concern, of course, except for the issue of concussions (noushinto in Japanese). I don't think I've ever gotten a concussion, but I think I was close one time in 2nd grade when my head bounced off the floor and I felt dizzy and nauseous for a few hours, and then this past weekend when I received a direct head shot from a hard thrower from about 15 feet away. I saw (too late) that the ball was coming towards my head, turned to dodge, and the ball collided straight into the right side of my face, missing the eyes and mouth and any essentials but leaving the side of my face numb for a few seconds and enough to make me swear and fall to the ground in pain, while others told me to "walk it off." Btw, another pet peeve of mine that I commit too, asking someone who's obviously in a lot of pain "are you all right?" over and over again. It's the most natural question to ask during an injury/ crisis situation, but it's not that helpful, what if someone says "NO?" Especially if it's asked over and over again by different people who are around, it becomes repetitive and annoying to the person deeply in pain, in this case, me. I haven't been able to sleep very well these last couple days and felt a little lightheaded at times the last few days and was really hangry (hungry and angry) yesterday, but probably avoided a concussion.
Still, I think all sports need to be careful about concussions nowadays given the research and litigation that has gone into concussions and the scientific health risks associated with getting concussions. Football, the most popular sport in America, has an uncertain future now with all the ex-players filing lawsuits and data coming out, and Antwan Randle el, former NFL player, saying publicly he regrets ever playing football, it is very scary. Certainly dodgeball is not as contact-laden as football where helmets collide into helmets almost on a constant basis, but it's still something that should be monitored, like any sport that has any object coming into contact with players' head areas. The dodgeball community does a great job of policing each other not to throw in the head area and fostering an honor system, but just like baseball some balls can get away, some players are smaller in stature than others and their head is where others' chests normally are, and just like in other sports there are some dirty players carrying a vendetta who purposely throw at people's heads, unfortunately.
Personally, with my head being my main moneymaker (it's not like I'm acting or playing professional sports as a career, I need a fully functioning brain to do what I do), I need to avoid concussions at all costs, and any memory loss (a main symptom associated with concussions) would be devastating for me, especially with all the memories of my great girlfriend that I have stored over the last several months! (that was cheesy!) In summary, I think dodgeball should transition to a no-sting, soft rubber ball type of system (not perfect in avoiding pain when striking one's head, but almost impossible to cause a concussion with that ball) in order to keep it as safe a sport as possible, and I personally am not sure I'll ever play with the hard rubber balls again, being the risk-averse person I am.
Next order of business: go watch "Concussion" the movie starring Will Smith.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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