Coffee Table Book of: Dodgeball (Hardcover)

Description

Coffee Table Book of: Dodgeball is a large format book of dodgeball, printed edge to edge in colour, one picture to a page and the widest carried across two: soft balls lined up on the centre line, the kit laid out plain, balls being made and cared for, the places the game is played standing empty, the early days of the game, and a few players seen far off in plain dark clothing.

The kit is laid out plain: a row of soft foam balls on a maple floor seen from directly above, a glossy blue ball, a mesh bag and a wire cart full of balls, an old red rubber ball with a pebbled skin and the hand pump and needle that fill it, a whistle on its cord, folded bibs in two colours, court shoes, flat floor markers, and a skipping rope, a rope ladder and a medicine ball for training.

The making follows stacked foam blocks and their offcuts, an open mould in two halves, a ball cut in half to show its foam, a coat brushed on, a floor swept, a centre line laid in tape and a ball wiped clean. The past runs from an old wicker basket and a knotted string bag of faded rubber balls to an old canvas ball bag, a village hall with a worn plank floor and a ring of cones for the old circle game.

Then the places, empty at every hour and in every season: a barn striped with morning sun, a vast hall at first light and another at noon with its doors open, a warehouse floor, a rooftop at blue hour, a town square at noon, a pavilion in the rain, meadows in mist, frost, hail and under a rainbow, a beech wood in fog, a lakeshore at sunset, a dune at sunrise, a park in falling snow and a field under the stars, and a few small players far off: racing for the balls, catching, winding up to throw, skipping, running uphill, gathering the balls and walking home along the beach.

Short notes run through the book, on the rules and how the game is played, the balls and kit and how they are made, and the history of the game: outdoors, a rope laid straight across the grass makes a quick centre line, soft balls come in many sizes, from small ones gripped in one hand to large ones held in two, a mesh bag carries a whole set of balls to and from the game, and cut open, a foam ball is solid foam right through, with no hollow at its heart.

Printed in full colour on heavy 150gsm coated paper at 216 x 279 mm (8.5 x 11 inches), as a hardcover with the art printed on the case.