Dodgeball pick-up info

All righty....here's all the dodgeball pick-up info for you strait from the source.

I just called friendly house and got the scoop:

Dodgeball pick-up is held Tuesdays from 6pm to 9:15pm with a $5 door fee. This is the reserved dodgeball-only time slot that used to be on Mondays, then moved to Wednesdays and now has gotten shifted again to make way for all of the league nights.

Friday nights have open-gym scheduled from 7-9:15pm with no fee required. The entire gym is generally taken over by dodgeballers, but could technically have basketballers on one side shooting hoops. This hasn't ever been a problem. Fridays generally get going earlier than 7pm.

The FH community center is located at 26th and Thurman in NW Portland. It's a largish white building with square columns and tall windows out front, the entrance is on 26th. All you have to do is sign-in and pay at the front desk. There are restrooms with showers and a full gym that you get access to with your fee. If you've never played before, read through the Recesstime Dodgeball rules ahead of time so you get the general idea. FH diverges from some of the rules, but it doesn't really matter for pick-up. There are mainly Recesstime people at FH, but you don't need to be signed up in any league to play at pick-up.

I try to get to pick-up as quickly as rush-hour traffic will allow, usually show up just before 7pm and stay the whole time. If you don't play dodgeball or get much exercise, it is easy to over-do it at dodgeball pick-up and cripple yourself for a couple days, so don't play much more than an hour. You can jump on to any one of the teams at anytime in the evening, but it is generally good manners to wait until between games, stretch out while you wait.

I can't remember how many Cheaters were planning on going to pick-up this Tuesday, I remember Slosh and Ryan were likely coming, I'll be there. Everyone on the team ought to go, especially if they haven't played before.

It's a good idea to fortify yourself with plenty of aspirin and gatorade to help you hold-up and play hard through-out the session. You may want to start thinking about knee pads and sweat bands, they help. Shoes can get destroyed easily depending on the construction, I've had good luck with higher-end running shoes and low-top basketball shoes, cheap shoes don't last two hours. I think any shoe with a molded rather than glued-on sole is probably good. The more shock absorbtion the better.

Remember, practice helps alot. Stretch out before playing to avoid injury. Have fun.

See you on the court!