As it turns out, the skills required to field high-velocity ground balls and turn double plays in intercollegiate baseball translate well in competitive team dodgeball.

Just ask former Stormy Petrel second baseman Shota Barbeau.

The Dunwoody, Ga., native competed for Team USA in the 2024 World Dodgeball Championships in Graz, Austria, this August 2024. He helped the team competing in the foam ball division win gold, and now he’s training to make the team again.

“When I tell people I play dodgeball, they think I’m joking,” Barbeau said. “When I explain I travel around and made the U.S. team they say, ‘Oh, you really play dodgeball.’”

Barbeau now lives in Seattle, Washington, and plays competitive dodgeball for the team based there playing in tournaments across the U.S. and Canada. When his career as a Stormy Petrel ended in 2022, he never dreamed he would end up pursuing another sport he played as a kid and loved.

“I was really bad at first,” Barbeau said. “I was getting destroyed on the court, but I was having fun.”

Barbeau graduated from Dunwoody High School in 2017 and started his college baseball career at Dominican University in Orangeburg, N.Y. He transferred to Oglethorpe, a little closer to home, in 2019. He majored in psychology and joined the baseball team as an outfielder. His baseball career was interrupted by the COVID pandemic, and when he came back to the team, new coach Kellen Greer told him he would not be in the starting lineup.

Barbeau applied himself, moved to second base and became a starter by his senior year.

“I have always had so much respect for Shota in our short time together,” Greer said. “While he was certainly talented in our sport, his competitive nature and desire to help the team win was infectious. It comes as no surprise to me that he would be involved in a sport that might not be as well known. One of the things that was fascinating about Shota was his willingness to be himself and not follow a crowd or a popularity contest. If it interested him, he was willing to give it a shot.”

The footwork and throwing motion are the two physical elements of baseball he has carried over into dodgeball. The game is so fast-paced; he has excelled by keeping his head on a swivel.

“It’s more of a mental game than a physical game,” Barbeau said. “You have to be thinking four or five steps ahead.”

He enjoys the strategic component of dodgeball while acknowledging most people think of the game they played in gym class in middle school. Competitive dodgeball is made up of six-player teams with six balls. There are two types of formats, one that competes with cloth balls and one with foam. Barbeau plays in the foam format.

Professional dodgeball still doesn’t pay the bills, although with growing sponsorship opportunities, it’s not the financial hardship it once was. He has worked multiple jobs to support his passion, including working as a sushi chef.

“It’s been a crazy journey to say the least,” Barbeau said. “All the hard work to learn the sport, make the team, represent the U.S. and win gold was worth it.”

Barbeau’s career exploits can be followed on Instagram and USA Dodgeball.  Tournaments are often live-streamed on YouTube and Twitch.

“My time at Oglethorpe made me stronger,” Barbeau said. “Oglethorpe made me grow up, and that’s what got me to where I am today.”