• IninewCrow@lemmy.caEnglish
    34·
    10 months ago

    TWAAAANNNGGG … and then a high pitched ringing for about 30 seconds after (this brief 30 second pause when you are dazed and confused is usually the time when three or four more balls hit your body from different directions)

        • Grass@sh.itjust.works
          15·
          10 months ago

          I honestly can’t think of anything this ball sounds like other than itself. Kinda like a basketball but weirdly fake sounding with a more synthetic, plastic yet almost metallic and springy impact sound and much more ringing. Inflating them sounded really exaggerated too. The manufacturer must have had some kind of exclusive deal with the school boards because this is the ball that every school had for the kids to play with.

          • Arghblarg@lemmy.ca
            8·
            10 months ago

            Repressed memories flooding back. Our school gym didn’t always keep them inflated properly, so the strong, taller guys would really launch them and the flaccid rubber things would splat against our young bodies like lead jellyfish.

            Holy hell dodgeball was a war crime. But so. much. fun.

            The ‘medics’ were not supposed to be targets… hah, hah. ‘Oops, collateral damage!’ :/ :)

      • Fern@lemmy.world
        9·
        10 months ago

        The high-pitched sound of the rubbery air filled ball’s sudden contact reverberates off the gym’s echoey walls, followed quickly by the “Ohhhh!” Of your colleagues. The trauma of this is not something you can process in this moment, and it will continue to be that way. But you’ll have plenty of time to do so as it’s being carved into your memory by the sudden twinge of seething pain on your nose and forehead, which is somehow intensified by the extreme embarrassment. The stunned look on your face can only last a moment before you hear your gym teacher shout, “You’re out! To the side!”

    • Jerkface@lemmy.world
      8·
      10 months ago

      Kind of like a bell, in a way. There’s the initial ‘slap’ when it hits the ground, or wall, or face of a child. But then there’s this distinct, hollow ringing that lives on until it’s caught or it bounces again.

    • MrMcGasion@lemmy.world
      3·
      10 months ago

      Imagine holding on to a large, metal pipe (like a hand rail on stairs) and someone on the other end, hitting the pipe with their hand, not a big “clung”, but like they swung past it, and barely nicked the pipe with the tips of their fingers as their arm swung by. Combine that vibration with a breathy, hollowness that kinda warbles as the rubber ball contracts and expands due to the impact. The whole sound only lasts about a second - unless you were the one that got hit in the head, in which case there’s a high pitched ringing in your ears for a bit as well.

  • mangosloth@lemmy.world
    14·
    10 months ago

    Saddest day of my childhood was halfway through middle school when they switched from the classic red waffles you see here to these sponge “safety” dodgeballs, because the school board was afraid of kids getting injured. They were so light you couldn’t get any speed behind your throws and when they hit you if felt like nothing more than a sharp gust of wind. I’ve never been the same since

  • Godric@lemmy.world
    10·
    10 months ago

    God I miss dodgeball! I was not a high pick for most sports in high school, but dodgeball I dominated via the OP strat of sprinting up and wailing the ball at people who just threw before they had a chance to retreat. I was an ambush predator, always lying in wait, ready to strike and avenge. I also had gym class with several school bullies, which meant dodgeball was more than just a sport. It was a time of vengeance!

    Watching my dodgeball thrown at maximum force bounce off the faces, stomachs, and backs of bullies from 5 feet away was the best part about gym class, thank you for reminding me <3