Dodgeball

There are approximately 639 named skeletal muscles in the human body - and at the moment, all of them are hurting.

For Sport Relief, our office events organiser arranged a Dodgeball tournament at a local leisure centre.
For those who do not know the rules of Dodgeball, I will allow Mr Wikipedia to summarise here:

The object of the game is to eliminate all of the opposition by any of the following methods:

Hitting an opponent with a thrown ball.

Dropping the ball used to block an opponent's thrown ball eliminates the blocker.

Catching an opponents thrown ball in the air prior to its hitting the ground. Also, at that point the defending team gets a player back if any have been eliminated.

Hitting an opponent in the face eliminates the thrower (referee's discretion).

The game begins by placing the 6 game balls on the center line, three on each side of the center hash mark.

Players must place at least one foot on the end line.

On the opening whistle, players may rush to the center line to retrieve the balls. Each team may only retrieve the balls on the right hand side of the hash mark.

Players may only begin to throw at the opponents once the ball has been brought back over the “attack lines” closest to their own end line. At no point can any player cross over to the opposite side of the center line to the opponent's side.

A match will consist of three, 15 minute games in which there may be multiple rounds. The first team to eliminate all 6 opponents through legal methods shall be declared the winner of that round and receive one point. A second round will then begin if time permits. The winner of the match shall be the team which has accrued the most points at the end of the match.

If neither team has eliminated the other team at the conclusion of a period, the team with the greater number of players left on the field shall be declared the winner of that period and be awarded one point.

Our team, known as Team Sleaze, were undefeated - until the final where it went to a draw which results in a one-on-one battle between the 2 best players on each team. Our opponent plays semi-pro Dodgeball and can throw the ball at an amazing speed and with incredible accuracy - so we lost

It was really good fun - but physically, I am paying the price for it now. Soreness, fatigue, pain and suffering. I am right handed and my throwing arm feels dead! Wiping my arse is great fun, I can tell you!

If you saw me in Tesco last night shuffling around with my trolley, unable to move faster than a snail and then having to slowly ease myself down into my car seat, and then pull my right leg in - you may have mistaken me for an invalid.

The cashier took pity on me though and packed some of my bags for me.

You can see Team Sleaze (and me) in action over at my Flickr page.

Note to self: You are not as fit as you think you are. In fact - you are not fit at all. Sort it out, lazy arse!