Get Physical
“If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a
ball...”
~Patches
O'Houllihan, Dodgeball
Recently,
I decided I wanted to mix things up a bit and find a new activity to add to my
exercise routine. Actually, my inspiration came from a rather obscure place and
a perhaps some mistaken confidence in my ability to still do everything I could
do in my 20’s. It all started when I bought a copy of the movie “Dodgeball”
from the local Walmart $5 bin. Of course I admittedly watched it with a glass
or two of wine, and that may have skewed my perspective a tad lol. For some
reason the camaraderie, the underdog story, and my desire to return to the
lazy, carefree days of youth (they always seem lazy and carefree in hindsight,
don't they?) made me think that somehow adding a sport like Dodgeball to my
fitness program would be a brilliant idea.
I have always been an athlete and participated competitively throughout
college. I know how many calories you can burn playing a team sport and it can
almost match a steady run on the treadmill. In order to be successful in any fitness
and wellness program you have to stay motivated and have some fun. Enter
Dodgeball...
So
that night I had a dream that I joined a local dodgeball team. It was co-ed due to probably the lack of grown
adult people that don't mind having balls hurled unceremoniously at their
head. In my dream there was no enigmatic
and brutal coach to help us along like in the movie “Dodgeball,” nor were any
of the other teams particularly evil, which, I have to admit was a real downer
for me. I so wanted to play dodgeball
against a team of evil miscreants. You would think that I would be able to
conjure at least that part up in my dream right? Well anyway, there were a lot of adults who
were actually good at the sport (unlike myself) and who sucked royally and
couldn’t hit the side of a building dodgeball apparently. It was probably the third
hit to my head with the heat of major league baseball player that made me
question the logic of choosing a recreational sport off of a Ben Stiller film I
found in the $5 bin. Thankfully, it was
just a dream and I woke up no worse for wear with a much less feverish desire
to sign up for dodgeball in real life.
The
point is to get physical and get out of the house. The more we sit, the worse we feel. The more we're on the Internet the less we
get the sunlight, exercise, and laughter we really need to thrive as people. Maybe I'll never be a member of a team that
makes “Obscure Sports Quarterly” and maybe I'll never go to Vegas for the World
Championship Dodgeball Tournament, but in my dream I did have fun, I did burn
calories, and for a tiny moment I felt like a kid again. In reality everybody
enjoys different activities and I feel good with that three-mile run I put in
today. Whatever your bliss, follow it…or dodge it whatever gets you moving.
