At the McHenry Marlins victory splash party, I saw an intriguing tee shirt about dodgeball.

I have fond memories of playing dodgeball with Tommy Callahan, Stan Johnson, Bill Hill, Leroy Miller and Timmy (whose last name I can’t pull up, but who was the fastest runner, even though he was the shortest). We did it in a circle on an asphalt playground at Easton (Maryland) Elementary School, a three-story building with outside fire escape for the 5th graders on the top floor. It’s now the site of the Talbot County Health Department.

My son says that Crystal Lake’s South Elementary School won’t allow the kids to play dodgeball.

Or tag.

Or soccer.

No roughhousing.

But McHenry’s Fiesta Days have no such compunction.

In fact, the festival held its first dodgeball competition this year on July 14th.

I talked to a swim Dad who works in the McHenry County Jail.

He told me that basketball courts were used at the new middle school across from the McHenry Drive-In Theatre.

Just imagine.

Grown men standing in two lines across a basketball court throwing balls about the size of ninepin bowling balls at each other.

Only softer.

It was described as a big nerf ball.

21-year olds versus much older guys.

And having a ball.

The tee shirt that caught my attention said,

MADA
McHenry Area
Dodgeball
Association

Ignoring the obvious, as I with a Rockford YMCA tee shirt, I asked,

“What does ‘MADA’ stand for?”

The swim Mom said, “It stands for ‘McHenry Area Dodgeball Association.’”

Dah.

And, on the back of the tee shirt, you can see there are even sponsors.

The swim Dad said some of the guys on the Sheriff’s patrol were a bit miffed that they hadn’t been invited to form a team.

My guess is the second year of this contest will be much bigger than the first.

I found the National Dodgeball Amateur Association web site and, lo and behold, there are all sorts of program–48 in all–including ones in Crystal Lake and Algonquin.

And, the McHenry Parks and Recreation program has a MySpace web site.