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.

Music at games

Effective immediately music will not be permitted at dodgeball games unless it is played via broadcast radio (AM or FM).

In accordance with SOCAN regulations, subscription services such as satellite radio and internet streaming services will not be permitted. If you wish to bring music to dodgeball, it will need to be broadcast radio.

Thank you for understanding!

Don’t forget!

  1. Please do not arrive early. If you do, please remain outside the venue physically distanced from other people, or remain in your vehicle until it is time to enter the facility.
  2. Please leave the gym immediately after your game. Socializing can take place outside the venue, but we need to vacate the gymnasium before we can fill it for the next game, and hanging around after/taking your time/talking to other people cuts into the next group’s warmup time. Please be respectful and leave right away.
  3. No more high fives/hand shakes! For this season we ask that the teams face each other from across the court and do “finger guns” at the opposing teams. Ideally, make eye contact with and finger gun towards each other player, to show your good sportsmanship. We are still doing the three cheers for the other team. Lining up with high fives/handshakes will return after the pandemic.