Dodgeballers let 'em rip on Capitol Hill

The ritual plays out on Tuesdays and Fridays at Cal Anderson Park on Capitol Hill: A small group shows up in the early evening with a bag of rubber playground balls, waiting for tennis players to finish matches. By the time they take over one of two courts, at least a couple dozen have shown up, and soon they're chucking balls at each other.

Seattle Street DodgeBall started a year and a half ago as a loosely organized group that played rain, shine or ice — and even on Christmas.

But the players' devotion to the game has been tested by more than just jammed fingers. Rowdy drop-ins have broken up at least one game. Antagonistic tennis players have argued with them over using courts for dodgeball. And now, Seattle Parks and Recreation will step in to rule whether the group can play on tennis courts.

Other childhood games like kickball have established themselves with structured leagues as their popularity has grown in recent years, but Seattle Street DodgeBall is less formal with its open, public games. Even so, organizers are tenacious about playing.

"We're a huge range of people, personalities, ages, lifestyles," said 28-year-old organizer Erin Grise, who works at a Whole Foods. "We're just hanging out playing dodgeball."

Throw, catch, duck!

On a recent summer night, quick-footed players leapt over balls flung at their feet, while others ducked and twirled or hovered in the background, holding balls in front of them to protect themselves from attack.

The rules are simple. Get hit, you're out. Catch a ball that's thrown at you, and the person who threw it is out — and your team gets one person back in the game. You must stay on your half of the court. Try not to hit people in the head. And the cardinal rule: no cheating.

The full fury of a match is best experienced firsthand, and the sharp sting of a rubber ball will remind you quickly whether you liked or loathed the game in elementary school. But for the regulars of Seattle Street DodgeBall, there is no debate.

Grise, who loved the 2004 movie "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story," likes dodgeball because it is a game for people who are not "sporty." She smokes while playing, though she is careful to look around before taking a drag.

"It's a good way to take out frustrations, but you're not doing it in a hurtful way," said Grise, who roused co-workers to play in the spring of 2007. "It's social. I like the trash talking."

Co-worker Mark Brooks, 22, didn't believe Grise when she first brought up the idea. He has since turned into one of the most fearsome players on the court.

"We started playing, and it was the coolest thing I'd done in a long time," he said.

The game has increased in speed as people have learned to throw — and catch — the unwieldy playground balls.

Joshua Byrne, 23, walked by the game one evening and came back to play. When he started, he got hit in the face. But he says dodgeball has sharpened his skills in soccer, football, basketball and rugby.

"You have to be good at peripherals, quickness, your arm, jumping," he said. "It brings up awareness, big time."

Steve Widmayer, 53, was playing tennis with his 10-year-old daughter, Mila, in November when they were invited to join the game. They've been regulars ever since, and Mila hosted a dodgeball game for her birthday this year.

"It's the excitement, it's the game," he said. "These people are family. It's like I have 60 or 70 friends I didn't have before."

Court conflict

Organizers have kept games going despite dodgeball opponents, city bureaucracy and battles on the court.

Early on, the group tried playing in a muggy, covered parking lot, where balls rolled into pools of muck. But the owner kicked them out.

The Cal Anderson tennis courts, at 1635 11th Ave., proved to have the perfect proportions for dodgeball, with high fences surrounding single tennis courts. But tennis players complained, protesting that dodgeball doesn't require a net and that the game damages the court.

The city says tennis courts are for tennis, but is considering whether to sanction dodgeball on tennis courts for the sake of the group. On Aug. 28, the Park Board is scheduled to recommend to the superintendent of Parks and Recreation whether the dodgeball players be allowed to continue playing at Cal Anderson.

"We're trying to frame it and formalize it a little bit just to avoid conflict," said Parks spokeswoman Dewey Potter.

A gym is an alternative if the city says no, but Grise said the group doesn't want to play indoors.

Until then, the dodgeball group grapples with its own popularity, with up to 100 players on some nights. The group usually gathers around 7 p.m. Organizers have resorted to a "secret" game once a week to play with a smaller group, and they recently instituted a new rule limiting how many people could play. Now captains pick 15 to 20 players, and those who aren't selected must wait until new teams are formed.

Some people have complained, but nobody has taken Grise up on her suggestion that they go buy their own balls and play on the other court.

Organizing the game has gotten more complicated than she could have envisioned.

"I'm just here to play dodgeball," she said. "We'll keep playing."

Nicole Tsong: 206-464-2150 or ntsong@seattletimes.com