Dodgeball

In response to one of my posts, I got several invites to join dodgeball teams. (Several=two.) Since throwing out my back, I have opted to just focus on derby.

However, Warren decided he'd give it a try and tentatively joined Team Erskine (working title) at Wednesday's practice session. He was a little hesitant at first, but everyone was genuinely nice and encouraging. It didn't take long for him to get the hang of it.



Too bad all my pictures suck, otherwise I could show you how scrappy that Mike Erskine is!

While the big boys played with their balls, the monkeys and I watched from the bleachers and tried to avoid getting clocked in the head. (Thankfully the practice balls are fairly soft so our close misses and flybys didn't hurt too bad.)

Satchel and Jiro both took great pleasure in being ball boys, and made sure to always give the errant balls to Warren or Mike.



I had a good time people watching. There are all types in this league and you really cannot tell how good someone is from their appearance. The standout dude of the evening was a returning player named "The Ninja." He was a young, blonde, skateboard type who was on the Up in Smoke team. Despite looking like a video game loving stoner, he was spry and bounced all over the court.

When he first arrived, he climbed to the top of the bleachers, took of his hoodie, and then bounded onto the court. His hoodie immediately fell behind the bleachers, but he didn't notice. Later, when he came looking for it, I told him what happened. He and a few other guys tried their best to stretch their arms down to fetch it, but to no avail.

Satchel seemed very interested in what was going on, so I asked him if he wanted to climb under the bleachers and look for The Ninja's jacket. He happily complied and ran down to the end, squatted down, and squeezed his body under the second level.

Two seconds later, he came out with a dodgeball.

He went back under and we could all hear some stomping and bumping around. The Ninja and his friends eagerly watched through the cracks, directing Satchel to the jacket. From their cheers, I could tell Satchel had gotten it. As he was scurrying back to the end, The Ninja came over to me and said, "Thank you, Mam."

OUCH.

Then he gave Satchel a high five and slipped him a buck. He was BEAMING. It was really cute.


"That's the third dollar I've ever earned!" he exclaimed. (Gigi once paid him $2 to help rake leaves.)

Once all the excitement died down, we went back to watching Warren play and tried to figure out the rules. I'm looking forward to being a fan and cheering on Warren for a change.