There’s a lot more to it."īut Kutner says there is a learning curve to go from throwing a ball on a flat surface to throwing one on a trampoline. It’s not just pick up a ball and whip it. "When you’re in your mid- to late 20s, early 30s, there are much fewer leagues to play in and so this is an adaptation of a lot of the same skill set: throwing, catching, positioning, strategy," Kutner said. A lot of his dodgeball teammates played baseball in high school and college. Kutner says he likes trampoline dodgeball because he can use the same skills as on the baseball field. And then when you add the trampoline element to it? I mean, they ask me the same funny questions: Are you serious? What kind of balls? Do you play with Ben Stiller?" "It’s hard enough to tell people that I play competitive. Then people don’t believe me," Kutner said. He says people are surprised when they find out. Kutner says he didn’t take up trampoline dodgeball until about a year ago. He’s with the Canuckateers from Toronto, Canada, one of 21 teams at the tournament. "The key is to duck, be small, stay low and try to cover the money maker!"ĭave Kutner, 28, wears a red T-shirt with moose antlers on the front.
It’ll sting for a little while," Lye said. "If you get hit in the face, it hurts for a little bit. Most rounds only last a couple of minutes.īalls can fly as fast as a speeding car. The team with the most balls has to get rid of them within 15 seconds. "But that’s how, kind of on a whim, just deciding to do something fun. And it was a lot of competition when we showed up there," Lye remembered. "I think we walked in, not knowing the intensity it was going to be and how fast-paced the action was going to be and we were very surprised. A few months ago, he made the transition to trampoline dodgeball. Then he joined a court dodgeball league on stable ground. Lye says his training was actually college basketball. "So you will see people running on walls, jumping, dodging, falling back.īen Lye of Indianapolis was wearing a muscle-hugging, green shirt with the team name Shell Shockers, in honor of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
They’re at a 50-degree angle, surrounding the flat surface," Platt said. "Most of us played dodgeball growing up, but the difference here is instead of it being played one-dimensionally, on the ground basically, you’re playing it here on the surface and five, 10, 15 feet in the air and the walls are trampolines. With a $25,000 prize on the line, the tournament attracted teams to Los Angeles from all over the U.S. It caught on, growing into regular tournaments throughout the country. Rick Platt came up with 3-D Dodgeball eight years ago at his company, Sky Zone, a chain of indoor trampoline parks. After the thunk of a ball hitting a body, a ref yelled, "Out!" and the targets were done. One ball sits in the middle of the arena, waiting for the bravest and quickest team to grab it Hunger Games style.Īs the red ball zoomed toward players on the other side, they dived and ducked out of the way.
Five players on each side gripping cantaloupe-sized balls, waited for the chance to use them to peg members of the other team. Twitter facebook Email This article is more than 9 years old.Įarlier this month at the Ultimate Trampoline Dodgeball Championship, players - mostly guys in their 20s to early 30s – bounced up and down on a dodgeball court made of trampolines.
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