People have debated about what qualifies as a sport and what doesn’t for as long as I can remember. It’s hard to know where to draw the line. Some people say “if it’s not in the Olympics it’s not a sport.” Others will say if it involves exertion then it’s a sport. This is where we on the Oracle come in. Introducing: Sport or Not? On this sidebar, we will pick an activity to analyze and decide if it’s a sport or not.
This week on Sport or Not we are bringing it back to our comfort days and debating dodgeball. Oh dodgeball, we all love it, and certainly get a sweat from it, but is it a sport or a game?
Dodgeball definitely involves exertion, and not only physical, but also mental skills. There’s even a national dodgeball league in the United States (founded in 2004), and there are 24 teams divided between two conferences.
However, this dodgeball league isn’t widely followed. There aren’t any real stakes from the games, and it’s rare to nonexistent to hear someone consider themself a professional dodgeball player.
A huge part of whether something is a sport or not goes beyond the skill and exertion of the game itself. I wonder if we’d even call football an official sport if people didn’t watch it or if the games weren’t broadcasted.
Dodgeball is fun and can get really competitive, and even though the Wikipedia page for dodgeball states the definition as a “team sport,” I say dodgeball has a long way to go before it’s considered an official sport. Unless something changes and dodgeball starts getting more appreciation and attention, for now, we’re filing dodgeball in the game or hobby category.
