I hated snow days because we weren't allowed to go out and play kickball

[-]

Ahhh yes the dodge ball (or as we called it at our school, the German ball). That ball was my great equalizer. All the assholes that poked fun at me and all the little bitches that teased me always wanted me on their team because whomever was on the other side knew that ball was going into their face or buttholes.

I once clocked Natasha IN THE FUCKING FACE. She never said shit to me after that... DID YOU!? DID YOU!?

Hey Chris... why you jumping around for like that? I'll make you jump motherfucker.

This was the early 80's.

It was grand.

[-]

lchristaylor@reddit

Growing up in the late 70s and early 80s, this was THE dodgeball. We played dodgeball at school (or poisonball in the neighborhood, which was essentially dodgeball without a centerline and sides where players can roam the entire area) all the time and there were only 2 types of people.

Those who loved dodgeball and those who hated dodgeball.

gif

lol I was reading the title and I could HEAR that ball bouncing on the concrete before being thrown at high velocity (for a 6th grader) at some weak underlings (aka 4th graders) during wall ball

[-]

ChevalCher@reddit

Feck Dodgeball. It was just a way to throw these things at each other as hard as you could and get away with it. Not fun.

Do not feck Tetherball or Four Corners. Loved those as a kid growin' up in the 80s. Much fun.

[-]

JupiterUnleashed@reddit

Now the kids play Gaga ball with these balls

[-]

a_sedated_moose@reddit

Gaga ball?

[-]

JupiterUnleashed@reddit

It’s a new game that all the kids are playing (in south FL at least). It is fast paced and a lot of fun.

1971 6th grade. I was already on the bench. Put my hand out to catch the ball to throw it back into the game. Ball hit my hand. Felt a pain. Looked at my hand, my pinkie finger was hanging at an odd angle. Barb K saw it and threw up on the floor. Finger was broken and dislocated.

[-]

Inattendue@reddit

gif

I can still feel it on my face.

Did any of you play 'wall ball' with that thing? Variation of dodgeball where one person throws and everyone else lines up against the wall of the school. Basically, the same rules. You get hit, you're out. Catch it and you become the 'thrower'.

bwoooooinnnnnnggggggg

gif

Definitely still feel that photo 🤕

Ah, the swiss army knife of recreational gear.

[-]

iftheygivinitaway@reddit

Sorry that happened to you. For me it was 7th grade playing mat ball (kickball with gym mats as bases), during gym and the moose-like Joe Dougherty hitting me so hard in the head while rounding third that it knocked me off my feet, and off the base. Definitely a minor concussion as I don't remember getting hit, and came to a few seconds later, seeing stars for an hour, and puking a few minutes after coming to. Didn't even get a visit to the school nurse. I had the pattern imprinted in the side of my face as a bruise for a day or two.

Some things from childhood I don't miss. Being a scrawny, gawky, uncoordinated kid was often not fun. Somehow managed to grow into my body and looks in my late 20s.

[-]

maledicte720@reddit

Yikes!! I definitely don’t miss the “walk it off” era.

[-]

iftheygivinitaway@reddit

Yeah. And Joe sort of stopped being a douchebag to me in high school, but I wasn't really in much of a forgive-and-forget kind of phase back then.

I kicked one as hard as I could at the wall.. it curved and hit Katie RIGHT in the back of the head. I'm pretty sure she got a concussion and minor whiplash, the gym teachers were with her for like 20 minutes and then the school nurse came and she missed the rest of classes for the day.

I saw one get run over by a bus when I was in primary/elementary school. It popped like a balloon. Then I imagined a human head under bus tires.

The unmistakable simultaneous sound of a “slap” and a “ping”

[-]

GogglesPisano@reddit

[-]

cybrgigolo@reddit

Kicking it or smacking it with your hand, made the same sound

[-]

FremenStilgar@reddit

There was a girl in my elementary class that seemed to be a kickball magnet to her face. No matter where she stood, "Wham!" *pours one out to Marcelle's face*

[-]

HypotenuseOfTentacle@reddit

gif

[-]

Inessence4@reddit

I can still feel it bouncing off various parts of me.

[-]

DavePHofJax@reddit

The smell, the texture of the ball, the sound it made as you barely dodge it. And let's not forget the classic BWANNNNGGG!!!! when it did hit you.

[-]

Responsible-Bee1194@reddit

I hear this. I feel this. Hell, I can smell it

[-]

Secret-Ad-830@reddit

i can taste it, took a few to the mouth

[-]

Responsible-Bee1194@reddit

gif

https://i.redd.it/u0nfy65nr7wg1.gif

sam56778@reddit

If you can dodge wrenches, you can dodge a ball.

[-]

EDCxTINMAN@reddit

*a wrench

[-]

sam56778@reddit

Sorry it’s been a while

[-]

TrailerTrashQueen@reddit

gif

We played kickball when we were in kindergarten during recess. Dodgeball was actually played during P.E. My favorite was actually European handball.

[-]

A_TalkingWalnut@reddit

Kickball. When I was a rec counselor as a young teenager, we even had these in softball-size. Dodgeball was absolutely viscous.

[-]

Hausnelis@reddit

gif

Ouch, 3rd world country. I personally would have used 3rd world shit hole. 🤣

US got money for bombs, but can’t feed the poor! ~Tupac Shakur

[-]

castlenutjob@reddit

Nope, we just don't preface everything we type with, Hi, I'm from (blank) so this may not pertain to you, but..."

gif

gif

Hear and feel. I was usually one of the first few out! Yay for cargo pants holding a book!

[-]

WhatWouldKikiDo@reddit

Not only can I hear it just in itself, but I can also hear it going THUNK as it hit me in the face at high speed.

“I know - let’s give the kids a game where they’ll have free rein to just abuse and terrify each other at will!“

“Great idea, Coach!”

[-]

wthulhu@reddit

It builds character

[-]

WhatWouldKikiDo@reddit

😂😂😂

[-]

DedTV@reddit

Its the sound I hear in my head when I hear the word "boing".

[-]

Salt_Finger_6863@reddit

Hahaha

[-]

meSabina@reddit

Handball either on my garage door or on the court at elementary school, I loved those red balls.

[-]

BallzBologna@reddit

gif

gif

But can you dodge a wrench?

gif

[-]

GoodTechnology8116@reddit

"Powring!"

[-]

Pootie-Pants@reddit

I heard it!!

[-]

TheWizardry90@reddit

PWUONG!

Right to the face

[-]

Jealous-Report4286@reddit

I was gonna say PHWOOONG! But I think we’re writing the same thing.

[-]

TheWizardry90@reddit

PH makes the “f” sound

The P makes the “Puh”

gif

Meh, dodgeball was for the soft kids. I was waaay more terrified of the trampoline!

Not only did you have to climb up to this big as contraption without a step ladder or help at like 6-7yo. But one wrong bounce off the mat and you end up off the trampoline or worst face plant into the metal framing cuz there was no padding in the 80’s. I know first hand on the face plant and all I got was a towel for my bloody nose while the next kid jump on and bounce right the fuck off the trampoline.

gif

[-]

Fancy-War-1023@reddit

Then why this phrasing? There are gifs that elicit a feeling of actually hearing it. Like the jumping electrical tower.

[-]

Shaking-a-tlfthr@reddit

Sqbonk!

[-]

merkthejerk@reddit

I can smell it too.

[-]

Cubbance@reddit

I also can feel that ball smacking me in the side of head during dodgeball.

[-]

thepianoman456@reddit

I’m glad as a millennial I still got this.

gif

[-]

Jaded-Distance_@reddit

Same.

This is really more of a "If you went to school in the last 75 years you probably know what this sounds like" post.

[-]

ElJefe0218@reddit

gif

[-]

Spiritual_Cause3032@reddit

A hollow boing followed by a slapping sound as it hit the concrete and a less prominent boing as the bounce escalted it back into the air.

gif

Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn

[-]

Nefandous_Jewel@reddit

Yup Comedy Central! I'll watch it tonight! Thanks!

SnuggleMoose44@reddit

gif

So true!!! One of the greatest things about middle school.

[-]

Maru_the_Red@reddit

I'm pretty sure I had Voight tattooed on me as a child.

This is what came to mind here. The skff-skff-skff of the pitch roll-bouncing toward you and then that weird resonant twang when you kicked it.

My 5th grade dodgeball concussion remembers.

External_Side_7063@reddit

Dude, I just walked out of the supermarket and was bouncing one of these. What the hell!

[-]

Randall_HandleVandal@reddit

BOOIT

[-]

Just heard it.

[-]

Enough-Donut@reddit

gif

This thread has reached trending status. Crowd Control has been adjusted to help protect the r/GenX community.

O my weak summer child let me introduce you to the bane of every european school playground

DreadPirateWade@reddit

Dude, give us a trigger warning first ffs!

It’s the sound that still haunts my dreams. They say a “ping” can’t echo. They have never had the misfortune of taking one of these to the face. “Pings” do in fact echo.

Dodgeball was one of the few athletic things I was really good at.

If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.

Oh but we do.

gif

[-]

teatabletea@reddit

No idea what kind of ball that is.

[-]

Username_888888@reddit

And feel the sting of it during a game of dodgeball!

[-]

Street_Roof_7915@reddit

Ouch.

Smell... Definitely know the smell...

[-]

HalFWit@reddit

Another generational sound...

[-]

HarveyMushman72@reddit

We used one of these at my job up to the 2010s.

[-]

VividFiddlesticks@reddit

Ohhhh memories!

I used to be a bank teller and these were our receipt printers. I had a bad hip so I had a foot that dragged when I walked so I was always running a static charge. My "party trick" at work was to touch the printer and make it feed a page from the static discharge.

Hear, smell and feel smacking my face all in a photo.

No popcorns, BTW!

[-]