We've brought this week's Sporting Weekend forward from Friday to Wednesday morning to give you a chance to enter a team in this weekend's UK Dodgeball Championships where up to 20 six-a-side teams (all of which must feature at least one female participant) will do battle for the honour of being UK Champions at something and a magnum of Champagne into the bargain.
The event is being organised by 8th Day, a sports club dedicated to giving you the opportunity to "try something adventurous that you don't usually have time to do." On this occasion, the activity will involve five minute bouts of playground style mayhem as participants first rush from opposite ends of a volleyball sized court to grab one of six available balls placed along a centre line before everybody retreats at speed over their side's "attack lines" three metres back from the centre of the court.
Once there, if you are in possession of a ball you can attempt to put one of your opponents out of the game by pelting them anywhere below the shoulders with it. If you came up empty from the initial charge you can still eliminate throwers by catching balls hurled at you, which has the added bonus of allowing you to retrieve a previously eliminated team-mate. You win by getting the whole opposition team off the court or by having the most players left when time runs out.
You can enter a whole team or you can enter as an individual and let the organisers put you in contact with five others so that you can come up with an agreed team name and outfit (seriously). The entry fee is £10 per person. You'll have to move quickly, though, as today is the closing date for entries. If you'd rather just watch, spectators are welcome at the event which starts at 2pm this coming Saturday at Play on Sports, 100 Preston's Road, Wood Wharf, London, E14 9SB.
Picture of those first, frantic moments via tyrian123's Flickr stream.
