By Mark Ambrogi
Each Friday night, a group of about 20 Fishers High School boys drill each other with balls for fun.
“It’s nothing fancy,” Dodgeball Club sponsor Lee Banitt said. “We don’t have uniforms. It’s just a real informal club where we get a bunch of kids together. They pick teams and they play dodgeball once a week.”
Sophomore Ethan Hale-Pate said a group of friends went to a dodgeball tournament at homecoming.
“We all just thought it would be a good deal to start a club,” Hale-Pate said.
So Hale-Pate got the club application paperwork from the main office and then asked Banitt, his chemistry teacher, if he would be the club sponsor.
The club started meeting in November, one hour a week to play. The game is simple. Two teams of players try to hit opposing players with balls while avoiding being hit themselves. The team with the last player standing wins.
“It’s a good way to hang out with your friends,” said Hale-Pate, who plays tennis for Fishers.
The club meets between 6 and 7 p.m. in the auxiliary gym so they are finishing playing if there is a home varsity basketball game.
Hale-Pate said the club is open to boys and girls, but no girls have signed up so far.
“It’s mostly freshmen and sophomores right now,” said Hale-Pate, who said the group definitely plans to play next school year.
Most schools stopped playing dodgeball in gym classes at the elementary and middle school level for fear of kids getting hurt or being bullied.
“We’re not allowed to play any more (in Fishers),” said Hale-Pate, who said he only played the game a little when he was younger.
Banitt said all the club members had to sign a waiver in case of an injury.
Banitt said he expects the club to keep meeting until the end of the semester.
“As long as there is still interest, we’ll keep going,” Banitt said.
