Dodge ball was strictly lunchtime recess in the asphalt play yard bordered on three sides by the brick walls of the H-shaped school, and by the iron fence on the fourth.
We played a version in which those tagged out by the throw of the red rather soft ball smaller than a basketball stood on the sidelines and cheered--and I think we could catch the ball if it came to us, and throw it to our allies.
There was action, suspense, great fun--and only a scrape or two that anybody got during all that time.
There was none of this so-horrible psycho-sexual abuse described by the current crop of "experts"--who have given us the "Kleibold-Harris Dodge-Ball Variant": "Dodge Bullet".
The consistent intent of all of this de-competitiveness is to reduce the young to soft, obese wimps.