After playing dodgeball Hong Kong-style for a few weeks, I’m slowly adjusting to throwing a smaller ball, not stepping over the backline, and having balls handed to me in sequence from outside the court. Still, it wasn’t quite enough time yet to grasp all the strategies of the game and play like the top players (not that I do back in Vancouver anyway…*sigh*).

April is Hong Kong’s designated “Sports Month”, and this past Saturday the government sponsored the Hong Kong Dodgeball League to run an introduction session for the public. It ran from 10-4pm (I only lasted 4.5 hours) and unfortunately, not too many new members showed up…mostly just the regulars (i.e. experienced/top divisions players). However, it was good for me to see some of these dodgeballers in action and observe faster-paced games than I’ve played so far.

My girls team captain Joey was super nice and took the opportunity to walk me through some of the common game situations and how to handle them (“intensive training”, as some of her friends jokingly said). As a girl, because you can go up to 1/3 of the court to throw, it also puts you in a more vulnerable position and makes you a target in a co-ed game. Joey helped me practise blocking and catching at close distances, and taught me how to “sandwich” an opponent between you and your teammate when you have two against one (if your opponent’s the only one left on the other side and not targeting you, you get behind them so they’re stuck with balls both in front and back). Even though a lot of her advice I already knew, like absorbing the impact of the ball against your stomach or thighs, it was good to get a reminder and refresh my knowledge of dodgeball.

As mentioned before, the game runs at a completely different pace than ours because the referees call out when to throw. Since there is no 10-second countdown, when there is a lull on court the referees would call one side to throw based on:

1. Which side has the most balls
2. If both sides have the same number of balls, which side has more players
3. If 1 and 2 are the same, then whoever did NOT make the last throw

Of course, the side being thrown at can still counter, but this (and the fact that there is no back wall so you lose any balls you throw) changes drastically how you attack. The teammates deliberate together or the team captain will call out how many players throw, who throws, and who holds. After throwing, you have to backpedal like a defective rollercoaster because the players opposite are only about six feet from you and, if they’re fast enough, can run behind you and trap you in the middle with no balls.

The Hong Kong league hires videographers so that every regular league game is recorded and uploaded on youtube for captains and players to review their games, and also to keep track of attendance. (Like VDL, a player must make a minimum of a certain number of games to make playoffs.) They also have someone logging all the kills, catches, and deaths of each player, resulting in cumulative stats that are shared with all the captains periodically (see below; click to enlarge):

*Player names removed by author to ensure privacy.

As such, there is a decisive system where all the league’s players get ranked based on the win percentages and value ratio calculated from their statistics.

It was refreshing being a new player among old-hands, as everyone was very friendly with advice and tips. I had to constantly re-evaluate my habits and auto-pilot actions, because some of them simply don’t work in this setting. Speed up or slow down? Do I hold on to the ball because I don’t need to reset it after 10 seconds? Do I stand farther up to protect my teammates? I’m the only one left and they’ve got all the balls…corner or middle? Why do I even bother sticking my leg out if the balls aren’t bouncing back? (And seeing myself in video afterwards, I realize I do this out of reflex and look completely ridiculous in this particular setting.)

Photo courtesy of Joey Yau

I’ve been lucky in my five VDL seasons to be on teams with some spectacular seasoned players who have taught me so much about dodgeball. No matter how much you play, dodgeball still offers plenty of surprises and the dynamics are constantly changing. Its variables are fluctuating all the time based on your team makeup, your opponents, luck, the gym, what you ate that evening…there is no one “textbook way” to play dodgeball, and isn’t that part of why it’s such an exciting sport? You never stop learning, and it’s important not to fall into the trap thinking you’re at a level where you can’t improve anymore.

So a huge kudos out there for all the seasoned players who are always ready to offer a word of advice or share their experiences, skills clinics instructors, and all the teammates I’ve had past (and hopefully future) for helping me improve. Whether you’re new at dodgeball or you’ve got ten seasons behind you, keep an open mind: you never know what you might learn about dodgeball, yourself, or life on that high-speed action-packed court.

Michelle Sz is not really an anybody in the dodgeball realm. She’s played all five or six of her VDL seasons in tier 1, and no tier 1 medal to show for any of them (but she’s still working hard on it!). The only thing you can credit her with is being the VDL Grammar Nazi, i.e. the ghostly Communications Manager/Lead Editor of the Marcom department who handles the copy, editing and writing a chunk of what you read that’s VDL-related. The other thing that is also true about Michelle is that she’s taken a gazillion dodgeball shots to the head/face, which may account for some of the eccentricity and randomness that appears between the lines on the VDL website.

In this article, a couple of effective tape jobs for each of the finger joints will be described. However, finger taping techniques are not limited to the ones shown here as long as you follow the principles of taping.

Principles of Taping (Anderson et al., 2004):

• Athletic taping should be used to prevent injuries and to help with early return to dodgeball.
• Athletic taping should NEVER take the place of a proper evaluation from a doctor or physiotherapist if an injury persists.
• Tape should be removed immediately after dodgeball. If tape is kept on for too long, it can cause tissue breakdown and bacteria formation.
• If your finger or joint becomes red, dry, hot, and tender, you may be allergic to athletic tape. Remove tape immediately.

Type of Tape

Use athletic tape (sometimes it’s called sports tape). Not medical… or scotch or duct.

Athletic tape can be bought in sports specialty stores such as SportMed. Some drug stores such as London Drugs or Shoppers may carry athletic tape as well depending on their location.

Finger Taping Techniques

1. For the metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joints aka knuckles:

• Use Buddy Taping

Use the adjacent finger for support.

2. For the MCP joint of the thumb:

• Use a Thumb Spica

Start with a strip of tape around your wrist.

With another piece of tape, loop it around the thumb, making sure that the tape overlaps the injured joint.

Repeat with 3 to 4 more loops, overlapping half the width of the tape each time.

Finish the thumb spica with a loop of tape around the wrist to secure everything.

3. For the interphalangeal joints:

• Use a Finger Splint

Start with a loop of tape on each side of the injured joint.

Make an X with the tape so that it crosses and supports the injured joint.

Do the same for the other side of the injured joint.

Secure the finger splint with 2 loops of tape.

• If the joint is not severely injured, use a simple loop over the injured joint

For all of the taping techniques above, pull the tape snug so that it adheres onto your finger but not so tight that it impairs circulation. Check your capillary refill to make sure that the tape does not stop the flow of blood by pinching your nail bed and seeing if the pink-ish colour returns. If the pink-ish colour does not return in less than 2 seconds, it is too tight and the tape should be removed immediately.

Carolyn Tam is a registered physiotherapist currently working in the Lower Mainland. She completed her Master of Physical Therapy degree at the University of British Columbia after graduating from UBC with a Bachelor of Human Kinetics.

References

Anderson, M.K., Hall, S.J., & Martin, M. (2004). Foundations of Athletic Training: Prevention, Assessment, and Management. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

First off, these dodgeball “drop-ins” are hosted by the local HK league, and they’re actually labelled “tryouts”. It’s open to anyone who’s interested in playing, but captains are in fact on the lookout during these sessions to scout out new players to recruit! So it doesn’t hurt your chances to play your finest, which is exactly what yours truly DIDN’T do.

The first thing that threw me off, literally, are the dodgeballs themselves. They’re much smaller than our regulation-sized balls in VDL, so that my first attempt to throw went straight to the ground in the most embarrassing fashion, landing about five feet in front of the guy I was trying to hit. The angle becomes smaller with the lighter weight of the ball, so that when I threw using the same power I throw a VDL ball with, it falls short. Sad.

Because the balls are smaller, it also makes catching more difficult. Those of you who have seen me play know that the only thing I can do half-decent on the courts is catching (goodness knows I’m lousy at blocking and I only throw if the planets align), so not being able to catch a smaller ball that bounces off my front before my hands can close around it is very, very discouraging. In that sense, the game becomes quicker, though you could potentially count on your teammates to catch the ball for you if it doesn’t hit anything else after hitting you, and you’d stay safe (one of the many rules different from ours).

Other than that, because of the layouts of the gyms these games are held in, there is no back wall whatsoever. You have to count on ball-shaggers to pick up and bring back balls for you (which you will recognize is the same system as in Victoria, if any of you have participated in the dodgeball tournament there). So it becomes essential for the existence of a cheerleading/support team – as the captain for a girls team I play part-time for wrote in the weekly email: “Looks like we need some ball pickers for this game…GIRLS…PLS bring all the BFssssssss, SECRET LOVERS, FDS WITH BENEFITS to help out!” Word for word, no lie.

There are a lot more variations, like how girls can go past the middle line up to 2/3 of the court (think of some of the stronger ladies in VDL…if they’re throwing at you from less than ten feet away, wouldn’t that be terrifying?), having no countdown but instead a referee blowing a whistle at you when to throw, or having balls lined up for you from the throwing line as your shaggers run them up to you so you can constantly be on the offensive. The game dynamics and strategies as we know it in VDL gets utterly defenestrated (i.e. thrown out the window)! Though disorienting, the differences to the game as we know it could be thrilling, and there’s no denying that your correspondent felt fantastic being back on the court throwing dodgeballs around again!

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Michelle Sz is not really an anybody in the dodgeball realm. She’s played all five or six of her VDL seasons in tier 1, and no tier 1 medal to show for any of them (but she’s still working hard on it!). The only thing you can credit her with is being the VDL Grammar Nazi, i.e. the ghostly Communications Manager/Lead Editor of the Marcom department who handles the copy, editing and writing a chunk of what you read that’s VDL-related. The other thing that is also true about Michelle is that she’s taken a gazillion dodgeball shots to the head/face, which may account for some of the eccentricity and randomness that appears between the lines on the VDL website.