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Opinion: Breakout of workout boredom by getting back to playtime basics


The SRC is too grown-up. All right, so it's one of the premiere indoor/outdoor recreational facilities at an American university, blah blah blah, with 135,000 sq ft. and 14 tons of free weights, blah, blah, blah.

Sure, that's impressive and all, but it's sooo grown-up. I don't mean to criticize here - I do my reps at the lat pull-down and incline bench just like all of you, go slam and duck in the racquetball courts with my buds (the duck is an added safety maneuver on my part), and run on the treadmill at 7.4 mph into a brick wall I never quite hit.

This, of course, is all very fulfilling - with all due modesty, I am the quintessential SRC athlete (recently, I've had numerous offers for sneaker contracts) - but I am afraid I have discovered the SRC's major design flaw. It caters to adults.

What's the problem with that, you ask. ASU is, after all, an institution of higher education, where we, the students and faculty, are all adults who seek mature cardiovascular workouts and circuit training. But let's not get too wrapped up in toning our triceps and our target heart rate to remember what started it all - the inspiration I fondly refer to as elementary school P.E., where Chinese jump-rope marathons, kickball line-ups and square-dancing tournaments motivated us to pursue a lifelong commitment to fitness.

We must remember there were windmills and jumping jacks long before there were free weights and stair-steppers. Field days before there were intramurals. Tee-ball before there was Tae-Bo. Kickball before there was football.

No, I'm not proposing that we trade in the yard lines at Sun Devil Stadium for a diamond and send our specialty teams back to the fence to get picked by captains (at least not with our season record so far). Instead, let us look to intrepid universities like the University of Georgia for examples of recreating our childhood recreation.

Remember dodge ball? You know, that marvelously uncomplicated game that involved a foam ball and generally wailing on whomever was in throwing distance? Well, some students at Georgia remembered it, too, and have formed an eight-team dodge ball league that recently gained official athletic status at the university student activity center.

But just because it's dodge ball doesn't mean it shouldn't be taken seriously. In fact, to league founder James Miller and his teammates, it's not dodge ball at all - it's deathball. Now there's the elementary school spirit!

"We play with no safety gear whatsoever," boasts Miller. Deathball is a full-contact game with "prison rules" and referees - tackling, slamming and unrelenting pummeling of your opponent is encouraged in the newest Georgia Bulldogs' club sport.

Just like every Olympic event, deathball had its humble beginnings. Miller said that he and his friends began playing this P.E. classic as a cure for post-South Park boredom, but that its official club status within the university was beyond his wildest imagination.

Miller and Co. is hardcore. Call it grassroots rugby, call it immature. But if that isn't an honest attempt to reclaim recess, I don't know what is.

I think we can all learn a lesson from Miller and his deathball derby. Next time your racquetball slam session or back-and-biceps routine leaves you feeling unfulfilled at the SRC, remember why. Remember third-grade tee-ball tournaments, when the wiffle ball was attached to a string and a stand, and the days when the free-throw line was about two feet from the hoop. By adding rules and regulations - or game objectives at all, for that matter - exercise is rapidly losing its fun.

As serious SRC athletes, it's time to get back to basics. We need to get over working out like grown-ups and play more. Let's reinstate games like dodge ball and four-square and use the rec-center to recreate one of the best aspects of our childhood: pure play without the greater purpose of building muscle or burning fat. Creatine and calorie counts just don't provide the same satisfaction that creaming your opponent with a Nerf ball does.

I urge all of you to follow my lead and bring some multi-purpose game balls with you to your next SRC workout (free weights are not suitable substitutions, I'm afraid.) Oh, and you on the rowing machine? Watch out. The recess bell has rung, and I've got to practice - deathball's first annual "Superbrawl" is only a few months away.

Katie Petersen is an English and journalism sophomore. Reach her at limerick132@hotmail.com.


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