ROCKLAND - Dodgeball. Just the word conjures up sensory memories of painful welts developing on the back of your legs.

For the past six weeks at the Rockland Rec Center, a number of adult Dodgeball teams have been working up to the final tournament. During the last championship game,  it was pretty apparent from watching the competitors that there are two kinds of dodgeball players: those who take it way too seriously and those who don’t.

Yay, just like middle school all over again!

Erica Sanchez (Dodge name: The Dirty Sanchez) organized her team The Dodgefathers largely through Rock City Café where she and a number of her teammates work. Though they take the game seriously, they have a lot of fun in the process with their roller derby-like costumes and Nacho Libre wrestling masks.

“We’ve been super energized and animated," she said. "Some on our team do this crazy jumping, some go all the way to the floor. There is a lot of physical activity going on.”

What about those painful welts? Teammate Corwin Flynn (Dodge name: Tiger) said: “People don’t generally get hurt. I have taken one of the balls to the nose, but it was okay.”

No sooner did Flynn say that when one of the Dodgefathers, Cole Fisher (Dodge name: That Guy) did a flying squirrel leap to catch the ball and landed on his face. It opened up a good inch-long cut just beyond his eyebrow but rather than go to the E.R., he slapped a butterfly bandage and got back in the game. That is why this team is called The Dodgefathers and not the My Pretty Pink Princess Ponies (Mariah Carey: Sorry that name has already been taken for my Dodgeball team).

Another interesting factor to the game is that some teams decided to choose all male players and some, like The Dodgefathers, decided to make it an equal-opportunity sport. “We don’t have to worry about getting a shot to the dingus,” said Sanchez, citing one of the advantages of being female.

Even though The Dodgefathers gave their all in the double elimination rounds, they didn’t win. Who cares, right? They all high fived each other anyway with big smiles on their faces. After each game they go to the Time Out Pub, who happens to sponsor the team, and celebrate whether they’ve won or lost. In Maine, the Five Rules of Dodgeball are: dodge, dip, dive, duck and drink.

It's been thrilling as all heck to see alternative sports like Roller Derby and Dodgeball develop in the Midcoast. Any sport where you can dress like a cross between Richard Simmons and Halloween is going to bring out a whole different kind of competitor and spectator. It's stuff like this that reminds the city kids they're not the only ones having fun.  The next sport that needs to take root in the area: trampoline volleyball and dirt bike polo. Anyone?

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com