You folks submitted some awesome responses to my column last week, and yours truly couldn’t be happier! Here’s the next installment you’ve been waiting for, and keep those questions coming! I promise I will only dodge balls not issues.
We have a loaded question today; check it out!
Hey Dodge!
How do I get noticed in dodgeball? Are there any fashion trends in dodgeball I should keep my eye out for?
Late to the party,
Ball Lagerfeld and Anna Winter-Season
Ball and Anna,
Wow, this could be approached from several angles so why not approach it from multiple angles. Games are quick and intense – a good outfit can make you a more obvious target, or an easier descriptor for your opponents to call you out. Team uniforms can also give you and your team a unified look and feel which can send serious messages to your opponents. And if you’re a crafty person, you can probably make a good outfit on your own on a decent budget too.
Get Noticed
You can go down the custom print route:
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Check out our season 16 sponsor, Instant Imprints on Broadway, and ask about the VDL discount
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Here are some teams that have won the coveted best dressed award:
Good outfits get noticed. Even better, an outfit combined with dodgeball skill(s) could be parlayed into stronger team bonds, and even recruitment opportunities so get out there and impress.
Sprite was wrong – image is everything.
Fashion Faux-Pas
Knee pads over your pants:
Dress shoes and even more so marking shoes:
These leave marks. The school board finds these marks and is forced to clean them up. Pretty soon the rates go up, and everyone suffers. Won’t somebody please think of the children! But seriously, this is clunky footwear and it’s not helping you play better, remember kids, only proper gym strip. There are better ways to spend your money. This writer, however, is currently a fan of ox blood brogues. You won’t find me on the court wearing them though. Send shoes to supply@vdldodgeball.ca if you appreciate the column.
Ultimate Peformance
For those who are interested in performance gear and maximizing their impact on the court, here are a few tips.
Kneepads:
Not all knee pads are made equally, and there are different opinions on the topic. There was a great discussion on the VDL Facebook group not too long ago:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2225240520/permalink/10153186412720521/
The only extra advice I can add here is that your knees are critical. Dropping down on them is a committed play and each player needs to balance their need to perform in dodgeball and their desire to walk properly for the rest of their lives. I look at it as a last resort, or a surprise defensive play. That being said, TAKE CARE OF YOUR KNEES. Just look at hockey players and how padded up they are.
Footwear:
Every sport has a special shoe designed for the rigors of their specific battlefield. For example, spikes/cleats are used in soccer, football, baseball, golf, etc. For more contemporary sports like ultimate and dodgeball, we borrow from sports which have already developed their technology. Utlimate makes use of existing cleat technology for traction and mobility on the pitch. Our closest relatives in terms of play surface and movement patterns would be indoor racquet sports like badminton and squash, and for those sports the weapon of choice is the court shoe.
We even mention them in our health and safety section. Simply put, our surfaces and motions demand the traction afforded by an indoor court shoe. While these shoes aren’t imbued with the essence of Michael Jordan or Magic skates which have the ability to grant you three wishes, they’ll definitely give you a bit more mobility on the court and that’s all.
Court Shoe reference:
http://vdldodgeball.ca/league/healthandsafety/
Most importantly, if you’re recovering from an injury take it easy. If you’ve sprained your ankle I highly suggest you take a look at this dodge safe article: (http://vdldodgeball.ca/2013/09/30/dodge-safe-6-ankle-sprains/)
Fashionably yours,
Dodge Savage
Have a burning dodgeball question you need answered? Submit your question in the comments below!