September 15th venue changes

We received some seriously unfortunate news from Dakota Field house on Friday that they will be closing September 13th-20th for some urgently needed repairs, and will in fact have their floors entirely redone during this time.
 
This means that we have had to secure other venues for the Semi-finals week of Sundays for the summer season.
 
In order to maintain the same style of play, the divisions will be rescheduled as following.
 
Draft:
 
4:00-6:00 East Elmwood CC (playoff games)
 
4:15-6:15 Norberry-Glenlee CC (teams ranked 5-8)
 
Rec:
 
6:00-8:00 Winakwa CC
 
Platinum & Gold:
 
6:00-10:00 East Elmwood CC with nets (playoffs)
 
8:00-10:00 Winakwa CC, with nets (non-playoffs)

Pro tips for first timers

Is this coming season your first time playing dodgeball? There are a lot of items experienced players might consider to be “common knowledge” that we would like to address for you in this article.

Team Size: The WDBF rulebook allows for a maximum of 12 players, but this is too big to have an enjoyable time when playing 6v6. Playing one round then sitting the next is just not as enjoyable as playing most of the game. We recommend having a team of 8 (ideal) to 9 (less ideal), paying players and use the other 3-4 slots on your roster to put on dedicated spares – people who aren’t as committed but won’t need approval to be called up last minute to spare for you, since they are on your roster. We recommend having a minimum of 3 female players on your committed roster, and would recommend using as many of your extra spots for females as well as there is a minimum of 2 females required to play.

Team jerseys: We do not recommend getting custom jerseys to start. A better tactic is to find a graphic tee/tank you all like the design of, and order that. Do not get names/numbers on the back yet, as that takes time and money and often won’t arrive until partway into your season. It’s much more fun to play on a team with matching jerseys, and you’re better off getting something that can also be passed along to new team members in future, or at the very least will not be too difficult to order one or two when you need to inevitably replace people in future seasons. Sites like amazon, redbubble, teefury, etc.

Collecting team fees: Collect before the season starts. You will get much better commitment from people if they have already paid their fee. If you have a group chat, change the person’s name to have ” – paid” after their name to keep track of who paid.

Rotating players out: Since the game is played 6v6 with a 2-female minimum, you want to make sure you always have 2 female players. We recommend giving players a number, or using a system such as alphabetical order. Sitting players by gender (women on a separate rotation from men) is unfair and not good practice if you want to build a team long-term, not to mention it is just plain sexist. As long as you have 3+ females show up, we recommend the following:

7 players show up – sit people in alphabetical order

8 players show up – pair them up, and they sit in pairs. Play 3 rounds then sit 1

9 players show up – Make lines of 3 players each – they play 2 rounds then sit 1

10 or 11 players show up – give everyone a number, run through the list in order. Bring a piece of paper to keep track.

12 players show up – 2 full lineups of 6 players, play one round then sit one round

Register early: Space is limited, early bird pricing has an expiry date, and you will avoid potential disappointment by registering as soon as you possibly can. Do not leave things to the last minute!

Equipment: Get some good shoes made for sport activities, and kneepads. Trust us, you will want kneepads. Bring a water bottle, and get a gym bag to keep your stuff in. Don’t forget to wash it all regularly too, even the pads!

Ask questions: If you don’t know the answer, and can’t find it on the website, feel free to ask! Email us, call us, or post in the facebook group “Winnipeg Dodgeball Community”. Dodgeball may be a large community at 650+ regular participants, but we are also a kind, progressive group of people who are happy to welcome new people into the fold and show you the ropes. Whether you’re interested in recreational or competitive play, we are happy to walk you through whatever it is you need. It’s much better to ask a question than to try to figure it out blindly.

 

See you in October!

Confirmation emails

A quick update to captains registering at this time:

Team payment confirmation emails will begin rolling out tomorrow. If you registered a team before today, expect to get that sometime August 27th.

Confirmation emails come after we confirm payment received, and due to some unforeseen circumstances with Summer league that required our immediate attention, we had to delay processing registrations for Fall league.

We apologize for the delay, and will have those all out tomorrow. Thank you for understanding!

August 25th power outage

We have sent out a few emails this evening regarding the power outage at Dakota Fieldhouse.

First of all, we accidentally sent the first two emails to the Spring Sunday captains, as we were rushing to get the message out.

Second, the poll (on the website Doodle) has been emailed to all captains of competitive teams. Please fill out ASAP, and make sure your captain fills it out ASAP so we can reschedule.

Third, if you did not receive any of these emails, please email info@dodgeballwinnipeg.com and we will respond directly.

Registration opens today!

Registration opens at 8:00pm tonight!

Things will stay primarily the same as in prior seasons, including:

Price: $595 per team regular price, $545 during early bird. $74.95 for individual draft registrations.

Thursday competitive games will be played at Dakota Field house. Draft will remain open court, played out of East Elmwood and Norberry-Glenlee Community Centers.

All other divisions will be played wall-ball style.

Draft registration will remain closed to the public for 2 weeks while current registrants have the opportunity to sign up. It will open to the public September 2nd at 8:00pm. Captains will be determined September 9th once stats are in, so in order to be eligible for captaincy players must be fully registered with their payment completed and form submitted by 11:59pm September 8th.

We have updated our waiver to include broadcasting, as we may start photographing/recording/streaming some of our competitive games. Recreational games will not be streamed.

Newbie night is August 11th!

While the competitive players are off in Saskatchewan for Westerns, we will be running two sessions to introduce new players to the sport. We hope that you take this opportunity to learn the sport, or if you already play with us, bring your friends who have been interested in trying it! There will be room for 36 players per session, with two sessions: 4:00pm and 6:30pm August 11th 2019

There is no entrance fee for brand new players.

Existing players who wish to play must bring a new player in order to play. We will not accept cash for this event.

Check out the event on facebook or on our website for more details!

Fine print:

1.There will be a limit of one existing player per new player. 2. In order to qualify as a “new player” you must have never been listed on the roster of any team in Dodgeball Winnipeg. We reserve the right to check your name in our player database to confirm.

Sunday and Thursday schedule decisions

We have reached a conclusion on Sunday and Thursday schedules

Recreational teams (bronze and silver) will be completely unaffected by Westerns and play their games as normal on August 8th and 11th

Competitive teams will play as normal on Thursday August 8th

Sunday Competitive teams (Draft, Platinum, Gold) will not play on August 11th and will instead have their regularly scheduled games on August 18th and 25th.

On August 11th we will be running a special event in our empty gym space to encourage new players to try the sport. The entrance fee will be one player who has never played in Dodgeball Winnipeg. We will not accept cash for this event, the entrance requirement will be that you are a new player, or if you are not, that you brought one. We will allow maximum of one existing player per new player that attends.

If you know anyone looking to try the sport, come out for one of the 2 sessions – 4:00-6:00pm or 6:30-8:30pm on August 11th at Dakota Field house!