Artful Dodger

Photograph by Leonardo Coll



Revive a childhood game and relive the rush that comes with it
By Jad Melegrito


Artful Dodger

There’s a ball hurtling towards your face. Nothing else exists in that moment and your adrenaline rages as you contemplate your next move. You’re in a fight or flight situation, faced with several options: take the hit from the ball, catch it, or dodge. Extend the whole scenario for a frenzied five minutes and that, my friend, is the game of dodgeball.

Sound familiar? When I first heard about dodgeball, I immediately thought of the game my friends and I played as kids on the street. We called it ’touchball’—a game where two teams face off, one inside a rectangular field and the other split at either side of the rectangle. It was a fast-paced game where both teams took turns getting pummeled front and back with a single ball. We used a basketball then, and my memories of the game tell me that balls flung at you hurt real bad.

For more on dodgeball, purchase this month’s issue of Men’s Health Philippines