Dodgeball, more than a good (or bad) memory

For you, it may be a bad memory from physical education classes. For them, it is a “noble” discipline, “a game of chess”, “the most beautiful sport in the world”. Away from the spotlight, Canada shines internationally thanks to dodgeball and its athletes who dream of their sport being recognized beyond school gyms.

For many Canadians, August 11 meant the end of the Paris Olympics. Few celebrated the start of the World Dodgeball Championships in Graz, Austria. Yet Canada came away with gold in both the women’s and mixed categories, and finished second in the world rankings behind the United States.

“I still don’t realize 100% that we managed to win gold,” says Benjamin Rousseau, who was part of the Canadian mixed team. “All my friends and family were texting me when it happened, they never would have thought that I would win a world competition one day. And neither did I.”

Before getting into competitive dodgeball, Rousseau played hockey for fun, as well as doing some outdoor activities and hiking. In short, he was not an elite athlete.

In CEGEP, he joined his school’s dodgeball “beer league” for fun. Like most people, he only knew about the sport from gym class. Three years later, he started competing, eventually making it to the Canadian Championships in 2017 in Halifax.

“From that moment on, my life took a turn for the worse,” says the 34-year-old.

Personal investment

The meaning of these words will become clearer as the discussion progresses. The investment required to be part of the Canadian dodgeball team is colossal. That of a lifetime.

Each month, the team meets in a different city across the country, whether it be Toronto, Winnipeg or Vancouver, for a period of 11 days.

“My employers are really cool with me,” says Benjamin Rousseau, who works in catering in Quebec. “Not everyone would understand why I want to invest so much in dodgeball.”

The investment is not only temporal: it is also financial. Considering travel, practices and training costs, the players of the Canadian team invest between $15,000 and $20,000 annually in the practice of their sport.

No prize money is given to players when they win tournaments, and few, like Benjamin Rousseau, rely on sponsors.

“We are actively looking for sponsors for Quebec players,” says Karine Biron, a member of the women’s team that won the gold medal at the last world championships.

“The costs are rising quite quickly with the Canadian team, but on top of that, we want to participate in other competitions, as it’s our passion. It’s becoming really expensive,” explains the construction estimator.

In addition to negotiating these expenses, Karine Biron spends hours watching videos to ensure she stays at the top. She observes the tactics of other countries, but also of her teammates, at a rate of about 10 hours per month.

At first, her involvement in such a little-known sport raised eyebrows among those around her. “Some people didn’t understand,” the 31-year-old sums up.

” With [les membres de] My family, it caused a bit of a debate initially. In their minds, work and family come before everything. But when they understood everything that it brought me, they supported me without hesitation,” explains Karine Biron.

“Legalized intimidation”

While for some, dodgeball is just a funny hobby, the stigma goes further in schools. In our neighbors to the south, in New Hampshire, a school board banned the practice, after a petition was signed by 400 students.

In Canada, University of British Columbia education professor Joy Butler has called the sport “legalized bullying” and an “instrument of oppression,” calling for it to be banned from schools.

In the collective imagination, it is often a question of a violent activity, featuring a rubber ball thrown at full force in the opponent’s face. The reality is quite different, according to the president of the Quebec Dodgeball Federation (FQD), Samuel Nadeau.

Softer balls than rubber ones are used, which limits the force of the impact of the throws.

“Every practice I get hit in the face with a ball and I’ve never had any injuries. In fact, there are very few, other than maybe bruises.”

Inclusion and strategy

It must be said that the release of the comedy in 2004 Dodgeball starring Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller, which portrayed a competitive, unhealthy view of the sport, did not help its reputation. Only one reality can be drawn from the film: dodgeball is played by average Joesthat is to say, very normal people.

“It’s the sport that made me love sports,” admits Samuel Nadeau. “In high school, I hated moving to the point of dying. What I like about dodgeball is the family spirit, feeling like I belong.”

“I told myself that what I had experienced that was positive, I had to share it with as many people as possible. That’s why I got involved,” explains the volunteer.

When played properly, dodgeball is a very “tactical” sport.

Depending on their possession of the ball, teams position themselves in different ways to beat the opponent, which requires a lot of communication.

This image of a competitive sport, and not of a simple disjointed and violent game, is what the FQD is trying to propagate in schools. A complicated mission.

“The first approach is always difficult. We feel that we have prejudices to break. Once we get over the initial negative image, teachers understand that the positive aspects largely counteract the negative aspects,” describes Samuel Nadeau.

While the Federation’s efforts within the school network remain mixed, they are bearing fruit in the general population. Nearly 1,000 players are involved in the sport across the province in the cities of Montreal, Quebec, Drummondville and Joliette.