By Nada Hamouda
Remember the Egyptian childhood game called “Sayad El Samak” or “The Fisherman”?! Well, this is the Egyptian version of Dodgeball; where the objective is to eliminate your opponents before they eliminate you by hitting them with a ball. Surprisingly, Egypt Dodgeball National Team is playing in the 2018 World Cup for the second time, scheduled to be held in the first week of August in New York City.
Thing is, did you ever imagine that Egypt has its own Dodgeball team? That was surprising to us as well!
Dodgeball matches are 30 minutes long, two 15-minute halves. With five balls in the court, each set lasts three minutes. The team with the most sets at the end of the match wins. Furthermore, each team has six players on the court with up to four substitutes.
In 2016, Egypt was the first Arab and African country to be qualified to the first World Cup, held in Manchester, where sadly the national team presented a poor performance.
However, the women and men teams have won the African Cup of Nations in 2017. “The 2016 World Cup was the first year when we officially got to play the game in Egypt and the rules were new to us. But it was a beneficial experience as it helped us win the African cup one year after,” Stephan Nagy, The captain of the mix category team, explained.
The first Egyptian Dodgeball League started in October 2016 for the sake of forming a national team to compete in the World Cup. The games used to take place in Track Indoor Court Heliopolis and Maadi Olympic Center.
Sometimes, the team struggles to afford traveling and logistics costs. “Egypt Dodgeball Federation is trying to help, though the team doesn’t get any financial support from the Ministry of Youth and Sports. Maybe the lack of awareness about the game in Egypt is the reason behind that,” Nagy said.
“We help each other for the sake of the whole team. I’m a graphic designer, so I can help with videos, photos and this kind of stuff. Others who have an experience in fitness could help fellow players in designing healthy programs,” Nagy added.
The national team is scheduled to fly to the USA in 27 or 28 July, and to head back in 9 or 10 August. The mixed category and the men’s teams are managed by Egyptian Joe Moller, while the women’s team’s coach is Polish Kasia Kathrine.
“Currently, we’re training three days weekly. This time we have a strong belief that we’re going to do something in the World Cup. At least we’re hoping we would be ranked among the best five teams out of the 10 teams participating,” Nagy optimistically expected.