Individual Division Guidelines

Recreational
This is the entry level play available to you as an individual. You should register for recreational if you are a beginner or have little experience in sports. We will connect you with other individuals who are also looking to play at this level. Played 6v6 with a 2-female player minimum. Played in the “Wall Ball” format; this division prioritizes fun, exercise and friendship before competitive drive. 

Draft
Draft can serve as a good introductory to the competitive side of the sport for an individual wanting to take the sport more seriously; or players wanting to meet new people in a high level environment. You can expect to see some competitive players in this division. Learn more about this division here.

Cloth Dodgeball (League Operated by Dodgeball Manitoba)
This is a new format to our province. This is for anybody who would like to try out the cloth style of gameplay. We are currently offering a large discount to try and grow interest in this format. Sign up as an individual and get to learn this style of our sport: different ball, different rules, same dodging, throwing and catching fun! Learn more about this division here.

Team Division Guidelines

Recreational
This is the entry level play available in team league. You should register for recreational if your team is full of beginners or has little experience in sports. Played 6v6 with a 2-female player minimum. Played in the “Wall Ball” format; this division prioritizes fun, exercise and friendship before competitive drive.

Intermediate
This is a step up from the recreational division, which is for teams that still want to play recreationally but have athletic ability, experience in sports and/or dodgeball experience. Played 6v6 with a 2-female minimum. Played in the “Wall Ball” format; this division is ideal for people who take the sport more seriously with some competitive drive, and want to improve and play against stronger, more experienced players. You can expect to see some competitive players in this division.

Competitive
This is the highest level of play in Winnipeg. This is ideal for players with the expectations of going toe-to-toe against the best players in the city. Played in the “Open court” format. 

Any team that wins a division in back to back seasons will be required to play in a higher division the next season, if one is available.

 

Styles

Wall Ball style
Some gymnasiums have walls along one or more of the boundaries. The style of play that arises from when a gym has a wall along the rear boundary is commonly referred to as “Wall Ball”. These gyms will naturally have some differences to the way the game is played compared to open-court gyms. Wall ball will observe the following rules to facilitate the style of play:

The size of the court may vary depending on the size of the facility
Players can re-enter from any place along the sideline but are encouraged to enter near the back wall
Touching the wall is acceptable and will not count as touching out of bounds

Open-court style
Some gymnasiums have walls along one or more of the boundaries, and some gymnasiums will not. The gymnasiums that do not and/or have a net/curtain behind the rear boundary will naturally have some differences to the way the game is played. This style is referred to as “open-court” as the court is not closed in by walls. Open-court will observe the following rules to facilitate the style of play:

There will be boundaries on all sides, to make the courts regulation size (women’s divisions will have women’s lines)
Ball retrievers are very important. Any person that is not a live player is permitted to retrieve balls, and teams are discouraged from arriving without ball retrievers. Any team that arrives without a ball retriever will just have to deal with balls on their side (but out of bounds) counting towards burden to throw. Please be courteous of everyone’s experience and arrange for at least 1 ball retriever to come to your games. 2 is a much better number, and 3 is the ideal number of retrievers for a game.
Hoodies are not allowed in the Men’s/Women’s divisions in an effort to remain consistent with competitive dodgeball rules. Hoodies are not a part of the competitive dodgeball player-defined kits in place by the WDBF. For the purpose of league vs tournament play, Light  sports-sweaters of largely polyester or stretch material (even with hoods) are NOT hoodies and are allowed. Hoodies are large, absorbent fleece material (Wool, Cotton or Polyester material mixes). Players will get one warning from an official for a sweater/hoodie, and then forfeit a point for their team every set they wear a sweater or hoodie following the warning.

Draft League
Draft slots will be sold in batches of 16 to a maximum of of 64 (8 teams of 8).
There are no gender minimums in draft, but all players are required to sit out equally unless a player agrees or chooses to sit themselves.
Any player caught deliberately using a fake name and/or misleading photo to attempt to manipulate where they are picked will be ejected and receive a subsequent ban from the following season.
The main point of the draft league is to have fun and meet new people, after the season is completed teams will be redistributed based on the results from the previous season, in a snake-style draft. The top returning players will become the new team captains and get to choose their team’s name, as well as participate in the process of drafting players to their team!
By participating in the draft as a captain, all captains agree to ensure there is at least one stat keeper present for the hour their team is NOT participating at their assigned gym that week. Additional retrievers are encouraged. If a captain fails to meet the conditions, the entire team will not have their stats recorded that week. If a captain fails to meet the conditions twice, that captain will not be eligible for captaincy the following season, and the teams stats will continue to not be recorded for this offense; and every further offense that season.
If for any reason stat keeper/shaggers were secured but did not arrive, captains need to notify the league. Proof will be required that the stat keeper/shagger was secured and the penalty will be reviewed. It is best practice to run a poll each week and if nobody is willing to be the stat keeper/shaggers, captains understand they should be doing it themselves, and know ahead of time this is expectation of them as captain in draft league.