In the sport of Dodgeball, there are 2 ways to eliminate an opponent: Hitting an opponent with a thrown ball, and catching an opponent’s ball. The latter is probably the harder one to do, but the former could be just as hard. Throwing is the biggest part of Dodgeball as it is the fastest and one of the most effective ways to eliminate an opponent.

Throws can be fast, slow, hard, soft, and even deceptive with a curve or a sinking drop. When throws are done properly, there is less chance for injury and a higher chance of eliminating your opponents for a big win. Since the seasons in the VDL run 10+ weeks long, you definitely do not want to be injured on your first throw on Exhibition Night. Proper throwing technique should always be used and should ultimately become a natural movement for your body.

An average player will throw anywhere from 1-10 throws a game (that’s including hits and misses). Multiply that by 15-16 games a night, you’re looking at 15-160 throws a night, not including the BADG at the end of the night! College level baseball pitchers pitch a maximum of 135 balls before their coach would pull them out (if they’re a good coach)¹.

Dodgeball is a lot of fun, and it would be a shame to have to watch from the sidelines due to an overworked shoulder, elbow, or worst; a broken arm. We don’t want to teach you how to remedy an arm in pain, we want to teach you how to prevent your arm from pain. We will briefly teach this in 3 sections: How to throw, How to warm up, How to rest.

How to throw

Common mistakes:

• Elbow too low
• Foot/Hip placement
• Gripping the ball incorrectly or over gripping the ball with too much strength
• Moving the body out of sync with arm
• Arm only throwing.
• Not leading with the elbow
• No follow through or no proper follow through
• Incorrect starting position

The following clip helps illustrate why you want your arm in the starting position.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFa7RyeMf28&feature=fvw

Proper technique:

• Grip the ball to the point where you can hold it loosely, but at the same time you can grip it tighter when you need to block
• Your body should be facing perpendicular to your target and not squarely at it, and your head is turned to look at the target
• If you throw with your right arm, your left leg should be leading in front of you, and vice versa if you throw left
• Your leading foot should have its toes pointed forward and not to the sides
• Elbow should be elevated to 90 degrees in front of you before the point of release
• At the point of release, snapping your wrist down while trying to make the ball spin towards yourself will ensure a straight level ball. Work on your release point so that the ball comes in low.
• As you throw, rotate your body and transfer your weight from back leg to leading leg, so that your throwing side will be in front of you.
• After releasing the ball, always allow your arm to follow through. NEVER stop your arm after you throw as this will over torque your arm, adding unnecessary and harmful stress

The first clip shows two techniques to work on arm and torso basics. Skip to 1:43 to ignore the talk about baseball grips. Please note follow through, but also note that he forgets to point his front foot towards his target in the last section:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yMo2g58k_Q

This one shows a decent all the way through throwing motion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBir-uzPBP4&feature=channel

Reference:
¹http://www.hsbaseballweb.com/every_pitch_counts.htm

How to warm up

You may be wondering why the warm up wasn’t taught first, and you’re right to wonder since in elementary/high school we were taught to do stretches and run around the school before doing the actual activity.

In dodgeball, we don’t have that much time to run a lap, unless you do it on your own time by jogging/biking to the gym you play at. VDL gyms open at 7 to 8:30pm (8pm for Wednesday players), and announcements begin 10mins after. 10mins isn’t substantial warm up time, but it’s enough to help you shake off the rust and get your arm and body in motion enough for your first few games.

We highly encourage doing your warm up before coming to the gym to play, but not everyone will have that much time. Ideally you want to use your first set of games as your real warm up session and the 10mins before announcements to get used to the throwing motions again after a week (or in some cases a day) off.

Our warm-up suggestion:

• When possible, run/jog/bike to the gym, or show up early and run/jog around the field. Do something to get your body warm, focusing on the arms and legs.
• Show up early so when the gym opens, you can grab a ball and start throwing around with a teammate.
• In the 10min warm-up time, throw 10-15 balls at your teammate. Start off standing fairly close to each other, and increasing the throwing distance as you progress into your warm up.  Also, begin at about 10% of your throwing power and working your way up to about 50-60%. At no point in time do you really need to throw 100% throwing power during your warm up.
• Try to get all your teammates to warm-up the same way so everyone is in good shape to get moving on the courts during game time.
• During announcements, do some light stretching if you’re warm. If not, try some push ups or lay on your back and do some bicycle pedaling with your legs to get warm while staying quiet during announcements. This is all in attempt to get your muscles warmed and ready for action and more stretching.
• Take your first set as the big warm up. Don’t push yourself too hard. Don’t go and start throwing 80-100% of your throwing power. Just get into the flow of the game and focus on getting your aiming in place and getting your arm warmed up to increase throwing power in the later games. You still play to win, but there’s no need to go into hero mode on your first game.
• After your first set, if you’re not reffing, take some time to get a good stretch in and down some water. Now you’re ready to play harder for the night and less prone to injury.

How to rest

Even when you take all the necessary precautions, there will be times where you’ll try to throw harder than your body will allow. Your body will let you know with great discomfort or pain if you’ve pushed too hard, too soon. When this happens, this doesn’t mean your night is over (provided your arm is still still in one piece and attached to your shoulder). It just means throwing won’t be part of your arsenal as a dodgeball player for that night.

Often times players continue to throw when they are already clutching their arm in pain. Risking further injury is never worth the pain or the thrill of possibly hitting an opponent out. 10 weeks is a long season, and throwing around 100 balls a night takes a toll on you. Don’t forget playoffs follows the weekend after your last week of play, so a lot of this dodgeball business deals with endurance as well as injury prevention. Take your breaks and rest your arms. They really need it!

If your arm is in pain:

• STOP throwing.
• STOP throwing.
• STOP THROWING.
• Sit off and ice your arm. If you have a history with arm pain, please pack an ice pack or reusable ice packs with you when you play.
• When you ice your arm, ice on for 10mins and let the arm rest without ice for 10mins. Do this cycle for about 40mins.
• Typically after you ice your arm, you shouldn’t be using your arm to throw again for the night. The ice is to calm and relieve the swelling and pain in your arm. If you throw when you’re cold, it’s as bad as coming to the gym at 7pm and throwing 100% on your first throw after 2 weeks without throwing a ball; it’s bad.
• If your arm continues to hurt or bug you, consider scheduling a visit to your doctor for a check-up on your arm.

Now, we’re not your doctor, or your parents, but we are experienced dodgeball players that have played for 5 years or more. We can’t stop you from throwing when you’re in pain, but please do think about your teammates. If you’re injured, your team is down a player, and that could mean your team plays short for the rest of the season. Even if a player doesn’t throw, it doesn’t mean that player is useless. A non-throwing player can still contribute by catching, gathering balls, and looking out for teammates that aren’t aware for oncoming balls.

Final words

Hopefully all this material have brought some light to questions you may have had about injury prevention and prolonging your dodgeball career in the VDL. The VDL is the biggest and the only non-profit league in Canada, so the competition is tough here. A hard thrower won’t get you to the top, but a smart player will go far in this league.

Try to have one of each or a hybrid of some kind on your team! To learn more about injury prevention, proper throwing techniques, and other skills needed to trump the competition in the VDL, consider attending a VDL Skills Clinic catered to both males and females of all skill levels.

DISCLAIMER:
Please be advised that there are certain risks of physical injury when performing the “How to” instructions. If you choose to perform these techniques, you will be assuming all risks and legal liabilities and will be waiving and releasing all claims for injuries, damages, or losses which you may sustain in connection to participating in any or all of the activities. TheVancouver Dodgeball League will not be held liable or responsible for any injuries that may result from following the “How to” instructions. Please use the following techniques at your own risk.

UPDATE (5/04)
Our Saturday, May 8th Skills Clinic is officially sold out now. If you still want to register for our skills clinic, please register for our May 10th edition.  Click on the link provided below to sign up!

UPDATE (4/26)
The wait is over! We’re opening our registration doors to our SECOND and THIRD skills clinic training camp! Don’t miss this last chance of the season!

Do you suffer from consistent blows to the head? Does your arm hurt after a night of playing? Feeling unconfident because you can’t seem to catch anyone’s eye (because you can’t catch any balls)? Well, we’ve got the answer for you!

Come out to our Season 9 Skills Clinic Training Camp, where you’ll learn how to throw, catch, block, and plenty more! Not only that, but with the package comes our own well-trained and experienced Execs (experts in their field, of course) on hand to teach you individual and team strategy, give demonstration and tips on proper technique, and even some practice time!

Not only that, you get to try out your new skills with some games and hopefully new friends! It is time to leave your muscle inflammation remedies at home, so register now and we’ll even teach you about injury prevention!

Season 9 Skills Clinic Training Camp (Part 2) – Learn How to be a Hero
Date: Saturday, May 8, 2010
Time: 6 – 9pm
Location: Kensington Community Centre (map)
Who is eligible? Any Season 9 VDL Player
Max capacity: 35 players/clinic
Cost: $6/person (please pay at the door, cash only)
Registration: Sign up here

Season 9 Skills Clinic Training Camp (Part 3) – Learn How to be a Hero (some more!)
Date: Monday, May 10, 2010
Time: 7 – 10pm
Location: Waverly Elementary School (map)
Who is eligible? Any Season 9 VDL Player
Max capacity: 35 players/clinic
Cost: $6/person (please pay at the door, cash only)
Registration: Sign up here

This is really going to be the last skills clinic of the season. As you may already know, our first one sold like hot cakes, so don’t wait too long — act quick!

UPDATE 3:  It’s official. We’re sold out again! Don’t fret though! You can still sign up for our skills clinic, and you will be put on our wait list.  Just follow the same link below to register! See you guys this Saturday!

UPDATE 2:  A big thank you to everyone who signed up and attended our Co-Ed Skills Clinic! It was an awesome turnout, and due to the high volume of requests for a another clinic,…. we’re happy to announce, we have organized a SECOND Co-Ed Skills Clinic set for October 17 at Kensington Community Center.

Date: Saturday, Oct 17th
Time: 7-10pm
Place: Kensington Community Center (map)
Who: Any Season 8 VDL player
Max: 35 players/clinic
Cost: $5/person

Please follow the link below to sign up!

The first clinic sold out like hot cakes, don’t miss this last opportunity of the season!
———————————————————————————————————————————–

UPDATE: The Co-Ed Skills Clinic is now officially SOLD OUT! A big thank you to everyone who signed up! For those of you who might have missed out! Don’t fret! If there is enough interest shown among the players, please follow the link below and sign up, and you will be put on our wait-list. We are going to try to throw a second clinic!

Yeap! You heard right. It’s not a lie. This season we’re bringing back our Co-Ed Skills Clinic by popular demand. All the techniques taught on one exclusive night; proper throwing, clean blocking, effective catching and best of all, individual game strategy.

Of course, we won’t end the night without any games. There will be round robin games, so everyone can test out their new sought out skills on the court.

So, where is all this fun going to take place?

Date: Monday, October 5, 2009
Time: 7 – 10pm
Place:  Sir Sandford Fleming Elementary (map)
Who: Any Season 8 VDL player
Max: 35 players/clinic
Cost: $5/person

If you are interested in attending the Skills Clinic, please reserve your spot by following this link: https://vdldodgeball.wufoo.com/forms/vdl-season-8-skills-clinic/

Do you want to jump higher?? or run faster?? Ah…unfortunately, we cannot help you in those areas, BUT we are presenting to you with a skills clinic that will help you to address some of the concerns you might have:

- Does your arm hurt from throwing?
- Do you want to better your throwing technique?
- Do you wonder why it’s so difficult sometimes to catch these balls?
- Do you want to improve your blocking, so that you don’t deflect balls into yourself?
- and finally, have you been looking for ways to play strategically as an individual player?

If you’ve thought about any of the above, then we think the skills clinic is for you!  At the clinic, we will go over the fundamentals to:
– Throwing
- Catching
- Blocking
- Individual game strategy

And we never go home without some round robin style games!

Here is the information you need to know.  Please note that we are holding separate MALE and FEMALE clinics.

Male Clinic: Saturday, March 28th
Female Clinic: Sunday, March 29th

Time: 1-4pm
Place: David Thompson small gym
Who: Any VDL player
Max: 35 players/clinic
Cost: $7/person

How Do I Sign Up? : Your team captain has been sent an email regarding how to sign up.

Any other concerns or questions please email Victoria at vmui (at) vdldodgeball.ca

We’re always there for your Dodgeballing needs!