I am a physical education teacher with Shelby County Schools and I am seeking to restore the sport of dodgeball to schools. This sport has been removed after being mislabeled as a dangerous sport. I am going to outline valid points as to why this sport is not dangerous and is actually beneficial to have in a quality physical education program. Please refer to the following points as reasons why this sport should be restored to schools.

• It’s a great cardiovascular sport that gets kids excited about moving and running.
• It focuses in on fine gross motor skills that are easy to teach using this game, such as ducking, dodging, changing directions, and agility.
• It can be taught safely if teachers are trained on how to responsibly teach this game. (Can be taught in District Learning Days).
• Old school dodgeballs would no longer be used and softer foam balls would be used instead.
• Great game to teach teamwork, communication skills, strategies, and higher order thinking skills.
• This game is easy to incorporate other academic subjects into. It can easily have math, science, history, or social studies integrated. (This could be taught to P.E. teachers in DLD).
• The argument that this game is detrimental to kid’s psychological state is old and outdated. This game can be properly taught and instructed where students are not only kept physically safe, but emotional status can be properly and adequately monitored.
• Most importantly this is a game the kids want to play. They request it and inquire about it every year. They play this game outside of school and would love to play it in their P.E. classes.