The Motherduckers: (from left to right; back: Thomas Suwala, Ben Norton, Reece Gilbert, Sam Rayner; middle: Nolan Rae, me, Alyssa Hoffert, Ashley Prosser; front: Shayla Pelletier, Aiden Doig, J’Lynn Aquin)
According to the 2004 classic comedy Dodgeball, “if you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball”. Having gone over 20 years without being hit by a rogue wrench, this winter I picked up a dodgeball for the first time in a decade.
The University of Regina intramural sports league runs dodgeball, a middle-school classic, for students during the semester. I was invited by some friends to join the Motherduckers, one of eight teams in the league, and I signed up not sure what to expect.
Motherduckers team captain J’Lynn Aquin started participating in intramural sports two-years ago.
“I had some friends ask me to join their intramural soccer team,” said Aquin. “I looked to see what other sports there were. And I saw there was dodgeball. And I’m like, that sounds like a lot of fun.”
Aquin says she chose dodgeball over the other intramural sports because “you don’t need a whole lot of technique.”
“I also thought of volleyball,” said Aquin. “But just finding a lot of friends to do it, who play and want to play. Because everyone’s like ‘Oh, I can’t serve, I can’t do this.’ Even if you can’t throw, you dodge, you catch. It’s a pretty simple game and like everyone has played it at school.”
There must be a minimum of six players in a game and a maximum of eight. At least two-players on each team must not identify as male. Players are eliminated when they’re either hit by a dodgeball or they throw a ball that is caught by the other team. When just one player is left they have to last 30 seconds without getting hit before another player can be brought back in.
My sister and fellow first-time player, Shayla Pelletier, was excited when we made it to the final and won a surprisingly tense match against the Daj Mabals.
“Definitely my favourite moment this entire season was when one of our teammates caught two balls in a row and got the entire team out by himself,” said Pelletier.
The Motherduckers were down in the final with just Aiden Doig left in the game against two players from Daj Mabals. They both threw at the same time but Doig dove and caught both throws, ending the second of four games.
Aquin said her semester highlight, “aside from winning the championship, [was] just seeing everybody play together and have fun. Sometimes sitting on the bench and just like watching you guys like cheer each other on, and when someone who doesn’t normally make a big play, like when Kayla made like a really good catch, or stuff like that, and everyone cheered them on. I think it’s just like a really nice. It’s nice to see, it makes me feel good.”
Alyssa Hoffert is a team handball player who joined dodgeball this semester to fuel her love of competition (even if it’s just intramural).
“I would absolutely suggest that people join dodgeball or any intramural sport at the U of R,” said Hoffert. “It’s a really good way to meet new people, especially during this time where people still have a lot of online classes.”
Personally, after having experienced a season of intramural dodgeball, I would recommend it to anyone who wants to try intramurals without worrying about their skill level. It’s a great opportunity to do something fun and affordable during the semester.
For the Winter 2022 semester it cost $100 to register a team and $12.00 to register an individual player. For non-students, dodgeball and other sports are also offered by the Regina Rec. League.
