If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.

Americans first heard that line in “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story” nearly 10 years ago. If someone threw a wrench at me, there is no way I would let it hit me, even if it came from a Division I athlete’s arm.

Dodgeball has always been a sport I have done well in, so for the last Aaron vs. Athletes, we brought back three of the featured athletes during the semester for a best two out of three series of dodgeball games. To even things out, next semester’s returning sports desk members helped me.

Tyler Davis, a sophomore from Steger studying journalism and Tony McDaniel, a sophomore from Belleville studying journalism teamed up with me.

Senior tennis player Anita Lee, junior sprinter McKenzie White and sophomore tennis player Jonny Rigby left their sport of specialization to play against us.

Surprisingly, the sports desk took early leads in both games.

In the first game, the three of us knocked out Rigby and Lee to leave only White on the athlete’s side. However, she quickly pegged Davis and caught a ball thrown by me to bring Rigby back in to take down McDaniel and take game one.

In game two, it was two to two for the most part before the sports desk made its move. White threw a ball that deflected straight into the air. McDaniel was out and yelled at me to catch the ball that was flying at me.

I dropped the ball I had and caught the projectile to give us a three to one advantage against Rigby. Davis caught the last ball to send the series to sudden death.

In sudden death, one player from each team is chosen and does not get much room to move. They each get one throw and catches do not count.

The athletes selected Rigby and I was selected to represent my team. This was the closest I was to winning a matchup in the series.

In the end of “Dodgeball,” Vince Vaughn’s character, Peter La Fleur is forced to play sudden death against Ben Stiller’s character, White Goodman. La Fleur decides to blindfold himself before the match.

It paid off for him, so it would pay off for me, right?

Well the referee yelled “Dodgeball!” I picked up my ball and felt wind from Rigby’s throw. He missed me. All I would have to do is hit him to finally win. But I reacted too fast and threw the ball away to force a second sudden death.

Lee told Rigby to aim low, and I assumed he would throw right away again. I jumped a few times out of anticipation and threw my ball, which missed Rigby. He could easily see, and waited until my jumping gig ended. He hit my arm, and gave the athletes a victory.

Luckily for me, it wasn’t sophomore thrower Josh Freeman throwing against me.

I lost all 12 competitions to 16 athletes.

The series would not have happened without swim coach Rick Walker. One day he suggested to do a day in the life story, so I asked him to put me against one of his best swimmers. A week later I was on the starting block against senior Pamela Benitez.

One thing led to another and it became a weekly routine.

Jennifer Gonzalez, a graduate student in multimedia journalism from Chester partnered up with me and made a weekly video.

Despite losing 12 competitions, Gonzalez’s video featuring Rigby won third place for the Illinois Student Best of Multimedia Competition.

It’s been a fun experience, and has received more compliments than any of my work. My friend’s uncle showed it to his coworkers, and they watched the videos weekly.

I learned how to use some of the equipment and basic editing processes, but my number one learning experience was that I will never be a Division I athlete. Student athletes have earned more respect from me.

The series has captured how much they have trained their whole lives. Student athletes are theoretically married to their sport, so when you add on the homework, the exams and the social life every college student wants, it becomes much more impressive they complete it all.

Aaron Graff can be contacted at [email protected], @Aarongraff_DE or at 536-3311 ext. 269