For the first time this year, I actually enjoyed dodgeball. Therefore, it’s fair to say that there’s a direct correlation between the team’s success and my happiness level. We won our first match of the year 10-1 in just 33 minutes. Granted, it was against a shorthanded team of 4, but they all had gloves…*
Anyway, our team captain sent out strategy emails earlier in the week, and it seems like we did a better job as a team. Even though we were only playing four people, our dominance showed a lot of improvement from our previous weeks. Maybe we needed a week against a shorthanded opponent to help us gain confidence and learn how to play well together. Or maybe we just needed everyone to step up their game.
I definitely had my best night, as I caught a lot of balls, and threw a bunch of people out. My accuracy was better than ever (which is usually awful), and I walked away without my arm feeling like it was going to fall off – both bonuses! Our ability to catch was highlighted by Meadows’ miracle one-handed grab off a deflection…while holding a ball in his other hand. I actually ended one of the games by bobbling a ball before catching it against my leg. With everyone holding onto the other team’s throws and showing improved strategy and accuracy, we looked pretty good. There’s still a few more weeks to improve our 15-29 record and make a push for the playoffs. It would be cool to actually slip in. First, we’ll see how we can do against a full team.
Below is a photo of Bob launching the second-to-last throw of the night – a ball that bounces early and hit the opponent in the nuts. While the guy was bent over, Bob ran to get the ball sitting behind him and hit the guy for the final win of the night. Bob is obviously a ruthless dodgeball assassin. Ha ha.
I think it’s becoming quite clear that dodgeball is NOT AE’s best team sport. We can’t get a consistent group of players each week, with our only mainstays being Meadows, Kim, Lauren, Kourtney, and myself. The rest of the players are a mystery from week-to-week. Half the time, I’m not even sure who’s on our team until we start the game because I don’t recognize the new people each week. Hopefully we start to get a consistent group of players going forward. I’m pretty sure our predictable teams in kickball are the primary reason that we’re a better team.
Anyway, Tuesday was awful. We lost 9-2, which isn’t really a surprise. What was surprising was the circumstances surrounding our loss. First, the other team didn’t have enough people to play, so our options were to take the forfeit, or provide them with players so we could play. Joel – the left fielder on our kickball team and fellow musician – showed up as one of our alternates, but he volunteered to play on the other team. We let another newcomer girl cross sides as well, as we opted to play the match instead of taking the forfeit.
After winning the fourth game to tie the match at 2-2, we lost the remaining 7 games. The other team had 5 players to our 6, and we still lost. It was a pretty pathetic display, and at the end of all of it, my arm felt like crap again. Fortunately, the pain didn’t last very long. I’m talking about the arm, of course. The pain of getting shelled every game is still there.
I’m still glad we didn’t take the forfeit, though. We can’t win 11 games under any circumstances right now, so at least by playing it out, we kept our record an honest 5-28. Ouch.
I love PSL. Not only is it a great way to meet new people in Pittsburgh, but it gives you the opportunity to get revenge for any losses on the playground you may have experienced during your youth. When I moved here I had no idea that I’d end up on a kickball team. Now that I’m on a dodgeball team, I think I’ve finally come full circle – back to the playground lots of my youth. Although…I seem to recall dodgeball being a bit easier 20 years ago. Of course, back then there weren’t “official” dodgeballs, and big dudes with gloves heaving rockets at your face.
Anyway, PSL dodgeball started 3 weeks ago, but with the bye week in the middle, we’ve only played two matches – losing both of them badly.
In week one, our team was the victim of having only 7 people show up, only 2 of which were guys (Meadows and I). Since you’re allowed to field 4 men of your 6 active players per game, that put us at a pretty huge disadvantage. Factor in that we were playing a team full of big dudes sporting receiver gloves, and that some of us were playing dodgeball for the first time with a whole bevy of new rules to get used to, and there was basically no way we were going to win…and we didn’t. We got spanked 0-11 (Note: Each match consists of 11 games). The other team would immediately throw every ball at me, and then systematically pick our team apart one person at a time. It was frustrating to say the least.
Last night was our second match, and while we played much better, with a more balanced roster, we still got beat 8-3. I’m finally starting to get a better feel for the court boundaries and the rules. I’m sure by the end of the season our team will be winning a lot more, but right now the learning curve for a lot of our team is killing us. On top of that, my arm feels like I just pitched 15 innings of nothing but fastballs. That should really help me during bowling tomorrow…ugh.
I guess we should’ve taken lessons from Patches O’Hoolihan:
