Squamish residents will soon get a chance to learn the five essential rules of dodgeball — dodge, dip, dive, duck and dodge.
It’s all thanks to the brand new Drop-in Dodgeball League, being put together by the RCMP Cst. Melanie Zonderland and Vancouver Coastal Health’s Dr. Danielle Duplassie.
The new league aims to give local youth the chance to have fun on Friday night and get a little exercise in a social setting.
“I’m the drug and alcohol counsellor at Howe Sound Secondary School (HSSS) and Don Ross Secondary School (DRSS) and one of the things I see in therapy with local kids is there’s not a whole lot of things to do for teens on weekends in Squamish,” Duplassie said. “So as an initiative to try and find fun things to do and hopefully keep them from using substances on Friday nights, Cst. Zunderland and I decided to get a dodgeball league up and running.”
The league kicks off on Friday (Jan. 18) and will take place each Friday until the end of the school year. The games go from 7 to 9 p.m. and it all goes down at the HSSS gym. All sessions are open to anyone over the age of 13 and are free of charge.
Duplassie said it’s an unstructured format to start off as it really depends on how many people show up.
“Sometimes we might mix and match things up,” she said. “Maybe adults against teens or girls against guys. We’re going to try to make it as fun and funky and ridiculous as we possibly can.”
Depending on the interest, Duplassie said the league could grow. She noted that there are several popular dodgeball leagues in the Lower Mainland and if there’s enough interest, the league could grow.
“Ideally, we’d like to have a league where people create their own teams, but we want to get enough interest demonstrated before we go in that direction,” she said. “The great thing about dodgeball is you don’t really need a special skill set or any equipment. Rather than it just being for jocks, it’s for everybody.”
Duplassie said she’s anticipating 40 to 50 people for opening night and encouraged anyone else interested to show up at the HSSS gym on Friday night.
“The more ridiculous attire the better,” she said laughing. “We want headbands, socked pulled up all the way, even wigs. It’s all about having a fun time out there.”
