Make sure you choose your refund method before the deadline!

Any team that has not selected their refund method by 11:59pm December 28th 2020 will receive a credit and will not be eligible for cash refund.

Any draft player that has not selected their refund method by 11:59pm January 1, 2021 will receive free entrance to the next season of draft and will not be eligible for cash refund.

*If you do not have the refund link please email info@dodgeballwinnipeg.com and we will send it to you*

 

Thank you so much to everyone for keeping Dodgeball alive through the pandemic – we would not have been able to survive financially without this truncated Fall season, and it’s all thanks to the wonderful community of players. You have all been so supportive and understanding. You are truly the best community an organization could hope to serve.

See you all in 2021 hopefully, 2022 at the latest!

Dodgeball on Ice

On October 30th 2020 Manitoba announced pandemic response level is moving to critical (aka code red) Monday November 2nd. This is because of significant and uncontained community spread as well as our healthcare system being at/over capacity. At this response level rec centers/gymnasiums are closed, and recreational sports are not permitted.

While these restrictions do not officially take place until Monday at 12:01am, Dodgeball will be suspended effective immediately. We understand that many people would like to have this Sunday as a “last hurrah” before restrictions take place, but that is both not possible and in our opinion would not protect our community (and society at large) given the current state of our healthcare system. It is not possible for us to run games this weekend as the gymnasiums we rent all felt it to be safest to cease operations immediately on Friday, and we agree with their decisions to do so, and provided no pushback when notified.

This is an extremely difficult time for all of us in the sports sector, and especially difficult for gym coordinators as not all groups have taken this announcement gracefully. We have chosen, as an organization, to support the decisions made by the gyms we rent with respect to going above and beyond the public health orders to keep us safe. These relationships are of the utmost importance to Dodgeball, and the people making these decisions are human beings doing what they believe will keep people safe – that is something we value and want to encourage. We have been extremely fortunate to have not had even a single exposure at Dodgeball this Fall, but we know that luck plays a big part in that and do not want to risk having a game be a super spreader event, which becomes more likely as the case counts and test positivity rates increase.

Dodgeball will return when the pandemic level drops back to a point where it is safe and legal to operate again. When the current Pandemic Response level is dropped (or extended) we will revisit the feasibility of finishing this season.

Once again, thank you to Dodgeballers across Winnipeg for keeping our sport safe while we were operating, and we want to thank you in advance for being understanding while we go back on ice. You are not just the best customers a business could have, you’re the best community of any hobby in the world. You have demonstrated in spades why we love this sport and the people who play it, and we will be back on the court whipping balls at each other as soon as we have the virus under control here in Winnipeg.

Stay safe,

Stacy Huen

Managing Director

Manitoba’s pandemic response announcement

After today’s presser we will discuss the implications with our gym partners and spend the evening making sure everything is understood and nothing is walked back before we make an announcement tomorrow about how Dodgeball will be impacted.
There will be no official announcement this evening as we have found in past that the messaging gets changed or undone shortly after announcements are made, so we will spend the evening determining how we will move forward following the government’s announcements today. An official announcement will be made Saturday October 31st in the early afternoon.
Please expect us to post here, on our facebook, and an email will be sent tomorrow afternoon once we know for sure how we are moving forward and what that will look like.
The decision will be made with care, and will not be taken lightly.

November schedules coming shortly!

After receiving some news we were waiting on from gyms, we will put in time this weekend to schedule the remaining November games that are unscheduled. For example, Sunday November 8th is on the schedule for recreational games now, and we have space Thursday November 19th which was previously unconfirmed. Dakota will be 6:30-9:30 just as in October.

Things are looking good for us to finish the season before the end of November. Thank you to everyone for being responsible and respectful, have a great rest of the season!

Dodgeball Continues

After reviewing the new restrictions in place, and discussing with the gymnasiums to be certain, we will be able to proceed with games. The new restrictions drop the capacity for venues from 50% to 25% for spectator areas, but since we have been operating with 0% allowance for spectators we are already going above and beyond the current limitations.
We are more than half way through the season, with over 100 events run and no exposures at Dodgeball thus far. We will continue to remain vigilant with respect to sanitation and health measures, and look forward to finishing the season as planned by Mid-November.
When the season is finished teams will be surveyed as to how/when everyone would like to proceed with the next season, and we will use that information to plan if/when/how we operate in 2021.
Thank you!

New Winnipeg Restrictions – what they mean for Dodgeball

We are currently following the Government of Manitoba’s presser with respect to the new Covid-19 restrictions.

We will announce through official channels what this means for Dodgeball once we have discussed with our gym partners as well as once we have clarification from the government. After the increase to Orange there were numerous “clarifications” that walked back many restrictions that appeared to be in place, so we will take more time to clarify before anything is announced, which will be, at the earliest, 24 hours from now.

So far Dodgeball Winnipeg has run roughly 100 Dodgeball games without incident this season – meaning there has been no exposure at any Dodgeball Winnipeg event, no contract traced to a dodgeball game, and we credit this to the community going above and beyond with respect to hygiene, distancing, respecting measures in place and most importantly staying home when symptomatic or potentially exposed. There is roughly one month of games left in the Dodgeball season, and we will make sure that we act responsibly, ethically, and with respect to the players as well as the rules in place.

October and Dakota Fieldhouse

We have been immensely fortunate to have received some improvements to our October schedule at Dakota Fieldhouse.

Games will be 6:30-9:30pm now, which will give plenty of time between games for players to leave the court before the next group enters the facility. It also appears that we are now able to run games there again on October 8th and 29th.

As always, thanks to the current state of the world changes may happen, but we will keep you apprised as soon as we are aware. We appreciate the patience and understanding everyone has shown. Thank you!

Games are back on!

After clarifying the new restrictions, and how they affect (or do not affect) indoor sports, we reached out to players. Overwhelmingly the teams have indicated they wish to return to play, so we have the following news:

Games at sport for life, Dakota fieldhouse, and East Elwmood CC are scheduled to happen again. We are awaiting a reply from Sinclair Park – since we are committed to providing 72 hours notice that a game is upcoming, the games scheduled for Wednesday September 30th will be postponed.

The schedule will be updated later today to reflect this development.

We did hear from numerous teams concerns about covid protocols, distancing, and masks. We will need buy in from everyone if we want to keep the season from shutting down again, and this means voluntarily following protocols and going above and beyond with respect to hygiene, physical interactions, and respect. We ask that everyone do their best, and remind their own teammates that this is not a return to normal and to abide by restrictions voluntarily rather than waiting for them to be enforced. We also would encourage players to at least try wearing a mask while playing, to see how it feels and if it is something you are capable of doing.

The Dodgeball community has always been touted for being respectful and progressive and we truly believe that if we all pull together we can improve our hygienic measures beyond simply what is mandated.

We extended our gratitude to the teams who responded, and our thanks to the gyms for clear quick communications. We will see you all this week!

Winnipeg – code orange

We are aware of Winnipeg being upgraded (or downgraded, depending on how you view it) to Code Orange. We are working with Gyms to cancel the space for the duration of this new lockdown.

For the time being, you can assume all games that are scheduled to happen during the Code Orange to be postponed. Should this last only a few weeks, we will do our best to add on to the end of the season and hopefully finish before Christmas.

Should it last longer than 4 weeks, there will be a partial or entire cancellation of the season, and proportional refunds will follow at that time. For the time being, though, we made allowances in the schedule for at least 3 weeks of lockdown – which was communicated in advance of the season. We were prepared for such an eventuality, which is why we booked 12 weeks of Gym Space.

Stay safe, be responsible, we’ll be back to having fun once this outbreak is under control!

Update September 25 2020: with the government announcing indoor sports are still okay to proceed with the same restrictions as before today, we have reached out to captains to determine how teams feel about when and how we return to play.

Sunday September 27th will still be cancelled regardless of the survey results, as we always strive to give at least 72 hours notice before scheduling/rescheduling a game.

Update 2 September 26 2020: Here is a document from the Manitoba Government detailing the current restrictions. The passage concerning athletic activities is near the end of the document.