Foam Dodgeball: The Rise of a Thrilling New Sport. - Eddy Li, Chairman of the Chinese Taipei Dodgeball Federation

What is Foam Dodgeball?Have you seen the classic Hollywood movie "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story" starring Ben Stiller? Or the popular sports reality program "All-Star Games" in Taiwan, where celebrities can be seen playing Foam dodgeball in the first, second, and third seasons of the show!

According to theChinese Taipei Dodgeball Federation.According to the information, Foam dodgeball has about 70 member national teams in the world. In addition to the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Australia, Canada and other countries with large sports populations, Foam dodgeball has become popular in Asia in recent years, including China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, etc., and the Malaysian team is one of the world's strongest powers in the dodgeball industry; and in Taiwan, it is organized by the Chinese Taipei Dodgeball Federation" (CTDBF).Chinese Taipei Dodgeball Federation."The federation is responsible for the promotion of the program and has set up the "Taiwan Foam Dodgeball Club"Programs.

Foam Dodgeball is a team sport where 6 balls are played at the same time, offense and defense are played at the same time, and concentration is the key to the game,
Tactics and reflexes. The court is the same as a regular volleyball court (18 m* 9 m), and the ball used is a 140-gram special foam ball, which is lightweight and very safe, with a low entry level.

The driving force behind this new sport in Taiwan is the founder and chairman of the Chinese Taipei Dodgeball Federation (CTDBF).
Eddy Li

Why did the chairman of the board choose to self-fund the promotion of Foam Dodgeball? What kind of results do you hope to see?

I grew up playing dodgeball as a child, and then I came to Hong Kong to work and got to know the sport of Foam Dodgeball. I found that Foam Dodgeball is full of "teamwork" and "strategy" among the players.Discussion is also important.The elements of "motivate each other", these elements can effectively promote the development of social and interpersonal relationships; after we leave school, the circle of life is getting narrower and narrower, but a lot of opportunities in life come from your network and socialization, of course, because the Foam dodgeball itself is a very lyrical, therapeutic sport, and can bring enough exercise, but also a very natural and easy to make friends place. Therefore, after organizing more than hundreds of promotional activities, I unexpectedly found that many of the students who have participated in our activities have become friends, and have even made a promise to form a team to participate in the competition, continue to exercise, and grow up together in the future! Because exercise is actually a very lonely thing, especially when you want to exercise but have no purpose, it is easy to burn out or give up, but when there is a group of people accompanying the exercise, whether you want to lose weight, gain muscle, health, or even make friends and so on, are more able to feel the fun! It is also easier to be consistent.

"I think it's great to interact with others!"Eddy said cheerfully.

The Road to Promoting Emerging Sports

There are manyIn the promotion of emerging sports, there is a tendency to over-open the doors for free in order to increase people's willingness to participate, while Eddy believes that fees should be charged even during the promotional period.(3hr course contract)($300/person).

Whether the charges affected the promotion?Eddy said, "It is very important to build up the habit of paying for the sport. I hope that we can use our resources in places that are worth investing, such as renting comfortable and convenient venues, providing excellent courses and coaches, and so on, all of which are ways to increase newcomers' willingness to continue to participate in the sport. Only with proper dedication can we really help the sport become better."

But what we can do is to try to continue to create a good environment so that everyone can enjoy the sport at their own pace.

In Foam Dodgeball, Eddy even introduced the common Hong Kong "club" organization, the concept of which is similar to a club, each club can recruit its own players, and then the club will arrange for teams to play in the tournament, each club can send one to three teams (each team of about 10 people), and at the same time, the teams will be left to organize their own practice or social activities, which will promote the relationship between the players, and help their partners! This will promote the relationship between the players and help them get closer and closer.

Characteristics of Foam Dodgeball and Reasons to Promote It

The movie "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story" says, "You can dodge the car, but you can dodge the ball", in the field at the same time six balls are moving, just like how to find a way to survive in a crowded car lineup, in the tense and exciting game, through the use of tactics, team attack and individual defense to win, are the reasons why this sport is so fascinating to the people, and even the girls can beat the boys if the tactics are used properly! Even girls can beat boys if they use the right tactics!

After careful observation, we found that Foam Dodgeball has very safe equipment and regulations, which reduces the danger and allows the public to have the opportunity to experience its fun, and most directly, it can train contingency and reflexes, which is exactly the skill that can be applied everywhere in the fast-paced society, and develops the ability to react sharply in the face of everything.

How do the celebrities feel about the sport of Foam Dodgeball, as the program brings the sport to a wider audience?

In the process of guiding many artists to train, Eddy is more convinced that Foam dodgeball is very suitable for the public to participate in, the threshold is extremely low and safe emerging sports, after a short training, no matter male or female, no foundation can play a good game in a short period, and experience its fun, see everyone playing with a happy face, and even a super big artists privately asked him to organize a private special occasion, the day of more than 50 celebrity artists to play in the field is the most gratifying thing to him. On that day, more than 50 celebrities and artists came to play Foam Dodgeball, which was the most gratifying thing for him.

What kind of promotional programs does the Chinese Taipei Dodgeball Federation (CTDBF) have in place?

Eddy said: "We are temporarily choosing Taipei as a promotional base, once a month to organize a novice village training camp, the purpose is to let more people get in touch with this emerging sport, but also in Taipei continues to hold an Foam dodgeball league, a fixed of about 10 teams to participate in the weekly exchange of different teams, but also slowly reach out to other counties and cities interested in partners, and will continue to go to various counties and cities across the country to do promotional teaching, if you are interested in foam dodgeball, welcome to take the initiative to contact us! If you are interested in foam Dodgeball, please take the initiative to contact us!

Foam Dodgeball Simple Rules:

The two teams will each have six players on the field. Before the game, six balls will be placed on the center line of the field, and both teams will stand on the baseline. After the game, they will try to grab the ball from the center line, and the first time they grab the ball, they have to go back to the baseline first before they can attack.

If one of the players is hit by the ball and the ball hits the ground, the hitter is out of the game and leaves the field; if the ball is caught by an opponent, or if the ball bounces after a hit or is caught by a player in the infield, the attacking player is out of the game.

A player may pick up a ball that has fallen to the ground, but may not pick up a ball that is across the center line.

If the ball hits the opponent's hand, the opponent is not out if the ball does not hit the ground; otherwise, the ball is out if it is hit.

If the ball goes out of bounds, outfield players may retrieve the ball and give it to a surviving teammate, but attacking an opponent from outside the field is prohibited.

When a player is out of the game, the game is over.

・When an offense hits more than one player in a row, all players hit are out of the game (double, triple, etc.).

The ball can be switched freely between players of the same team.

・When you catch an offensive ball, you can save a teammate when you are not at full strength, except for the batter who is out.

The player with the ball must throw at least one ball within 10 seconds, otherwise he/she must give all the balls to his/her opponent.

For more information about American Dodgeball, please refer to:

Chinese Taipei Dodgeball Federation. Official Website