LANGLEY — There are five “Ds” in dodgeball: dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge.

At Langley Middle School on Wednesday nights until Dec. 15, all five can be witnessed during two hours of dodgeball madness.

Referee Chase Collins, a sophomore at South Whidbey High School, looks at one team.

“Are you guys ready?” Collins yells.

The team in question responds: “Yeah!”

He looks at the other team.

“Are you guys ready?” Collins yells as he emphasizes “you.”

The other team, looking to outdo its foes, responds louder in the echoing gym.

“Yeah!”

Green, red and yellow balls zip, float and roll across the half-court line.

The young players dive to the floor to avoid a hit. One girl had the duck move down to a rhythm as she bent at the waist to avoid an out. Another boy used lateral dodging movement to stay in the game. Only the brave try to catch the ball.

“It was fun,” said 9-year-old Isabelle Bolding. “It was kind of scary ’cause there are lots of boys.”

Bolding’s mother registered her for the dodgeball league. Her talent was ducking with a fluid, rhythmic hip bend: head up, knees bent, shoulders down.

“I like dodging stuff,” Isabelle said.

She offered an honest assessment of her other dodgeball skills, though.

“I’m not really the best at catching,” she said.

Not that it mattered. Through the first three games, Isabelle was one of the last three players remaining on her team. In the first game, she was the last player standing on her team. She also had yet to get a player out through the first three games.

The South Whidbey Parks & Recreation District decided to organize a youth dodgeball league after a successful turnout last year.

And this year, it’s been another spot-on hit. In its second week after beginning once-a-week games on Nov. 10, enough youths attended for two teams of 10.

The game itself is simple. Six players begin on each team’s half-court, eliminating, or attempting to eliminate, the other team’s players.

Spencer Izett, 10, returned this year after enjoying himself with last year’s dodgeball league. His dad is one of the team managers.

“It was really fun last year, and I wanted to do it again,” Spencer said.

The fifth-grade student at South Whidbey Elementary School practiced catching the soft rubber-coated foam balls before the games began. He tried to curl the ball into his body rather than catching the ball with his hands — just like a football receiver.

“It’s kind of hard for me to sit still, so I really like dodging,” he said. “And I’m not very good at catching.”

Each game is full of side plots — a game within a game. Players seem to seek out individuals rather than a coordinated team game where they focus on systematic elimination of the opposing team. The teams seemed less interested in winning than drilling an opposing player in the gut.

It’s one of the purest forms of controlled chaos. The rules are few, but strictly enforced and followed. Balls that roll out of bounds can only be retrieved by a player who raises one hand in the air to signal their status. No one challenges the referee’s calls. Teams stay set all season with 12 players registered for each team, and rotate in an orderly fashion between games.

Games are held at 5 p.m. Wednesdays in the Langley Middle School gymnasium, on the court downstairs by the cafeteria.

Above the dodgeball din, the screams and giggles, parents sat in the bleachers smiling at the joy their children experienced playing a simple game.

Collins, a parks and recreation referee, also refs basketball games. But he prefers presiding over dodgeball games.

“Less pressure,” he said.