New Hampshire School District Bans Dodgeball As Part Of Anti-Bullying Campaign

The Windham, N.H., school board voted overwhelmingly to ban dodgeball and "nine other 'human target' activities" from its schools. Admittedly, it's impressive that New Hampshire came up with at least 10 sports that use children as human targets. But that's all a thing of the past, and it's not because dodgeball is dangerous. It's because dodgeball involves singling out the weaker members of the herd.

“We spend a lot of time making sure our kids are violence free,” Windham superintendent Dr. Henry LaBranche said. “Here we have games where we use children as targets. That seems to be counter to what we are trying to accomplish with our anti-bullying campaign.”

As is usually the case with these things, it started with a parent's complaint. A father of a middle schooler complained that his son was bullied during dodgeball games. That led to a teachers' committee. And with the backing of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education, dodgeball was given the headshot.

“It’s an elimination game,” said Andrew Mead, program manager at NASPE. “Games like dodgeball and tag don’t keep kids involved and physically active. They objectify slower students who don’t catch as well.”

Sounds like another underhanded scheme from the freeze tag lobby.

If you'd like to comment below, please contribute a dodgeball KO video.

[ Eagle-Tribune]