Hey there Dodgeballers - gather in! Yeah, you! Over there In the one piece leotard - come on in. Everyone come in close. I want to chat strategy with you, but don’t share this top secret info with other players. I want to chat about ways of getting your opponent out - more specifically I want to talk about throwing at their feet.
When first starting out, most players just want to throw the ball as hard as they can and hope for the best. The problem here is that throws can be inaccurate; they might be called as a high throw, or you could be throwing right into the opponent’s mid-section (making it easier to catch!). One of the many throwing strategies is to aim at your opponent’s feet. The biggest advantage of throwing at someone’s feet is that you keep the ball far away from their arms/hands, making it more difficult to get you out by making a catch. Players who try to catch a ball thrown at their feet have to either drop to their knees (which can be difficult to time properly), or reach down to the floor with their hands to make a difficult catch. Throwing at their feet is especially valuable when trying to get out an opposing player that is skilled at catching players out.
Another advantage of throwing low (especially for players that might not be super accurate) is that you are much less likely of committing an errant high-throw violation. This one is pretty straight forward, but nobody wants to see high-throws during a match; it’s an automatic out for the offending player, but, more importantly, it can be dangerous and cause injury.
For beginners, throwing low is a great way of allowing a bit wiggle room with accuracy. For more experienced players, throwing low is a great way to keep the ball away from a good catcher’s sweet spot (mid-section).
Good luck out there!
