Wisconsin student facing charges after high school dodgeball game turns violent

An 18-year-old Wisconsin high school student is facing charges after he assaulted another student during a heated game of dodgeball.

Jacob Sigler was slapped with one count of substantial battery after he punched an unidentified 16-year-old opponent in the head at Ellsworth High School on Oct. 11 during a the schoolyard game.

The victim and his mother reported Sigler to the police, citing that he and three other students were targeting him specifically during the game, and when Sigler ran out of balls, he became freaky-naughty and threw a fist.

Lucky there were no wrenches around.

via GIPHY

According to Fox 9, Sigler “closed his fist and punched [the victim] in the face,” knocking the teenager to the ground.

The victim’s mother said her son suffered a facial fracture after taking a CT scan.

Sigler and the victim reportedly did not have any previous altercations in the past but, during questioning, Sigler told police the victim had aimed at his face during the game.

"I'm not his best friend, but I know him, and I don’t have a problem with him, not until then,” he said. “Just at that moment, I had a problem with him."

Sigler also said the game was just a "friendly fight” and “competitive game of dodgeball.”

And for everyone's future reference, the game is called bombardment.

Odell Beckham Jr. destroys kid in dodgeball game (VIDEO)

Whether he calls it dodgeball or bombardment, to Odell Beckham Jr., it's still a competition — and apparently doesn't care who's on the other side.

The Giants wide receiver hooked up with a couple of kids to show them the fine art of throwing a utility ball by nailing one youngster with a laser to the face.

Odell Beckham Jr. is wrong for this 😂. https://t.co/RiQFl9Ylko
— Not Tony Romo (@not_romo) January 29, 2015

Kid must have skipped the wrench training.

El Salvador's crazy Fireball Festival is like dodgeball with flaming projectiles (VIDEO)

The northwestern municipality of Nejapa in El Salvador celebrated the annual Fireball Festival on Sunday, a reenactment of a fight between the town's patron saint and the devil. As groups of young men battled each other by hurling massive balls of gasoline-soaked rags at each other, spectators lined the narrow street and cheered them on.

Think of it as dodgeball with Molotov cocktails.

Looking more like a war-zone than a celebration, the two teams of young men, with their faces covered by war paint, throw flaming fireballs at each other, surrounded by hundreds of bystanders. Equipped with gloves and clothes soaked in water, the combatants throw and at the same time, evade the flaming fireballs made from rags and dipped in fuel. Some of their clothes do catch on fire, and some of the participants are often hit point blank in the face,  but despite the danger, few injuries have been reported over the years. 

"Las Bolas de Fuego", as the locals refer to this bizarre event, is actually a reenactment of the fight between San Jeronimo and the devil. But others think it is in remembrance of the volcano which destroyed the village almost 400 years ago.

Either way, we'll stick to bouncy red utility balls.

Although. If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a fireball.

Dodgeball banned at New Hampshire school district

A New Hampshire school district has banned the playground sport of dodgeball over concerns about violence and bullying.

The local school board in Windham, N.H. voted 4-1 last week to remove ball-throwing game and nine other "human target" activities after a committee of physical education teachers studied the issue after a middle-school parent complained his child was bullied during a dodgeball game.

The committee recommending eliminating dodgeball — regionally known as bombardment to many including Homer Simpson — along with prison ball and slaughter during school hours.

"We spend a lot of time making sure our kids are violence free," Windham superintendent Dr. Henry LaBranche said. "Here we have games where we use children as targets. That seems to be counter to what we are trying to accomplish with our anti-bullying campaign."

School Board member Dennis Senibaldi cast the sole vote against the nanny state ban.

"We have rules that are set in place to deal with bullying," he said. "We don't need to ban an entire round of games just to enforce those rules."

The National Association for Sport and Physical Education said there are any number of reasons to drop dodgeball.

"It's an elimination game," said Andrew Mead, program manager at NASPE. "Games like dodgeball and tag don't keep kids involved and physically active. They objectify slower students who don't catch as well."

Senibaldi offered an interesting solution.

"We could just do it on a point system," he said. "So, no one gets knocked out right away."

What's next?  Tag without touching?  Oh, they already have shadow tag.