Our League is consistently active throughout the year, from September to April and May. I’d consider that lucky. Many college sport programs are much shorter, and I believe the opportunity to fit in as much dodgeball during that time is great. More dodgeball generally equals more fun.
The end of the school year and the start of summer doesn’t have to end play time. Thanks to the ever increasing popularity of dodgeball, there’s plenty of summer leagues and events to fuel your dodgeball crave.
A perfect way to get started is to check out MidwestDodgeball.com. It’s managed by good friend of the League, Glen Spletcher and mostly handles midwest pickup games, But it’s worth a look.
Chicago:
Events: A perfect example of a non-seasonal NCDA event that brings together NCDA players is DePaul’s May Day Dodgeball Rally. It starts as a hat tournament but it’s always a fun time. The third annual May Day will be held this weekend, May 25th.
2235 N Sheffield. May 25, 2013 10am
Leagues: Chicago has a long, long history in playing dodgeball. And whenever I say long history, that means playing before the movie was released in 2005. DePaul Dodgeball as a club started in 2000. I don’t want to get in a rant on that, I just enjoy trying to educate the unwashed masses. So I’ll move on.
The Aberdeen Street Dodgeball Ninjas have been playing on the southside of Chicago for years, near UIC’s campus. Had the current NCDA been around at the time they started up in 2004, it would be very likely that UIC would have a competing team. At the time, many of the Ninjas were also UIC students, but many more are neighborhood hooligans. I use that term as one of great admiration, Aberdeen has some of the best people I’ve played dodgeball with and it’s fun to have the neighborhood kids on your side. One note, Aberdeen’s ruleset and giant games is the spiritual ancestor to DePaul’s ruleset, and therefor the NCDA ruleset. And now you know.
910 S. Aberdeen: Free! Tues/Thurs 9p, weather permitting. It’s an outdoor hockey rink.
There’s also the North Avenue Beach League, also played in a large hockey rink, outside, but this time at the beach. There are many bar leagues in Chicago cropping up, but this is likely one of the better ones in terms of matching NCDA style of play. It’s a large scale dodgeball match with lots of rubber dodgeballs, with people on the court numbering in the 30s and 40s.
This was mostly a Chicagoland post, and I tried to keep it to places with a similar NCDA ruleset/playstyle. But we’ll be releasing a couple more posts from the content team regarding more local summer events, so check back in a little while to see possible stuff in your neighborhood.
