Just like hair in new places, head shots are a fact of life

Maybe it's playing in a rec league, maybe it's the new rules, but the issue du jour in Toronto area dodgeball seems to be head shots. When to call them, when not to call them, and most importantly, the apparently dire need to STOP THROWING SO HIGH.

Really, this has been the theme of the season: Teams complaining about head shots. The first week with the Moth Balls, the other team asked (yelled at) me to stop throwing the ball so hard at girls. Never mind that one of their male players bloodied one of my teammates' noses and never mind that I never threw a ball higher then waist-high. I made a conscious effort to throw lower, but to stop throwing my hardest at the request of another team is, to me, ridiculous. Particularly considering the fact that I don't even throw that hard.

The second game that week, playing with the Evil Empire, we had agreed that all head shots would be neutral on the assumption that no one would purposely aim high, and no one would purposely get hit in the head. Unfortunately, we promptly hit the same player in the head at least a half-dozen times, if not more. It wasn't on purpose, but it did happen frequently. Eventually, our opponent got fed up and yelled at us to stop throwing at his head, that our neutral head shot calls were bullshit and that we should play by the proper rules. Jimmers spoke to him after the round and calmed him down, and, to his credit, the guy came over to us and apologized for his outburst after the game.

In the second week of the season, the Moth Balls had similar issues. My arm was aching so I was trying to stick to my sidearm throw (which is much softer and lower then my regular overhand pitch) but one of their players was a pretty good catcher and had a reasonably strong arm, so I made a point of using my overhand fastball on him. On a well-timed strike I blasted him in the chest. His reaction? "WATCH THE HEAD SHOTS!" Not that I had hit him in the head, mind you. Although he articulated it poorly, he was just that he'd been hit hard and caught unawares.

We were having similar trouble with our opponents on Thursday night, when the Evil Empire lost to the Hell Spawns. Although their captain had suggested we call all head shots as neutral, his teammates insisted that we were out any time we hit them in the head. At the same time, on one play where I was hit square in the face, they tried to claim that it had bounced off my hands and into my face. They also hit Jellybean directly in the head, after distracting her by yelling at her for already being out.

Clearly, the head shots are out of hand.

More specifically, the reaction to head shots is out of proportion and out of hand. They're an inevitable part of the game and, going against Freudian logic, not at all on purpose. It reminds me of a conversation I once overheard during a lacrosse practice. One of my teammates, Chris, had been a linebacker with the university's football team and switched sports to join our lacrosse team. During a practice he flattened one of our smaller teammates and began spouting apologies and saying that he'd go easier next time around. Eventually, the smaller player replied "Relax. It's not like I go home and tell my mom 'I can't believe I got hit playing lacrosse!' It's part of the game. I expect it."

If only dodgeball players could take head shots in stride as well as my lacrosse teammate. Head shots, getting hit hard with the ball, are all part of the game. It can hurt, take you by surprise, and even upset you. But to complain about it? That's nonsense. Head shots are a fact of dodgeball life.