On October 10th, the central region finally welcomed their first women’s tournament in the Heartland Havoc, and University of Iowa had the honor of hosting. The central region teams in attendance were Iowa, UWP, and UWEC; Illinois unfortunately had to pull out day of due to transportation issues, but they wished those still going good luck. The women of the central region played hard at this tournament, making sure to not let this amazing opportunity go to waste. Let’s take a look at how the teams did!
Saturday, October 10th, welcomes the first ever Heartland Havoc women’s tournament hosted by Iowa! This is a very big accomplishment not only for their young coach, Andrew Heim, but for the central region as a whole as this is the first official women’s tournament hosted in the region. Several events like the two Platteville home tournaments, the central region cup, and Eau Claire’s home tournaments have scheduled women’s matches along side their open games, but the Heartland Havoc is the first all women’s event. If you didn’t know, the central region had half the teams in the women’s league going into this season as well as some of the youngest teams in the division. This makes having an official women’s tournament in the region all the more important not only for internal team growth but regional growth as well. It gives our women the opportunity to prioritize and showcase all the hard work they’ve put into their team so far this season, and it offers a glimpse into what the rest of the season will look like. This event will see four teams in attendance: UWP, UIUC, UWEC, and of course Iowa. Each team will play three games, and at the end of the day, an open match between Iowa and a mixed team will take place.
While this preview comes a little late into the start of the season, I touched on all of these teams in the Women’s League Preview, which you can read here. For this article, I wanted to hear from the teams directly on how the season’s been going so far. So below are the interview questions I asked each team in the region. Thank you to those who responded, so let’s hear from the teams!
The central region kicked off the season with two tournaments this weekend; the first being the Rosen Bowl III on Saturday, September 19th, and the second being the Cornhusker Clash IX on Sunday, September 20th. Check out the preview an recap for the Rosen Bowl III after this one. The Sunday tournament was a change of pace which allowed UWP and Iowa to dedicate all of Saturday to traveling down to Lincoln, Nebraska. It was great to see the turnout for this tournament, so let’s take a look at how each team did!
Each year the Platteville Dodgeball Club puts on the Tim Ebert Memorial Scholarship Tournament 2026. The tournament was held on Saturday, September 12th and we raised $800. Tim Ebert was a player at the University of Wisconsin Platteville who was respected by his teammates as a captain and friend. Tim could always be counted on, always there to help, and was always making a difference. The funds raised go towards a scholarship in his name offered by the Platteville Dodgeball Club.
The Central region kicks of the season with an unusual Sunday tournament hosted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The Cornhusker Clash is a long-running meeting usually between close rivals UNL and UWP, but this year, Iowa joins the fun. Their participation in this event is a welcomed break in tradition, and it gives all three teams a great start to the season. Let’s take a look at each team going.
The NCDA’s Women’s league has seen a boost in attention over the course of the last two seasons, and it’s unsurprising with how hard these women fight for their spotlight. This season, unfortunately, recruitment seems to be far more challenging than previous years, which forces teams to fall back on their vets as teams slowly shrink in size. But recruitment isn’t everything, so let’s see how these teams are doing coming out of summer break and learn who’s on the playing field for this season!
It’s time to dust off our jerseys as we approach the start of the 2026-27 NCDA season! The central region is excited to welcome back its many players and teams from a well deserved summer break as well as introduce those trying to break into the league. Lots of exciting things happened over the course of last season: First ever Central Region cup, two-time consolation bracket winners (UWP), Iowa’s first official season, and so much more! It will be exciting to see what happens next in the Central region, but for now, let’s take a look at who’s returning.
The past few seasons have gifted the central region with significant growth in its women’s teams. University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign (UIUC) got the ball rolling by participating in the first ever women’s national tournament, and University of Wisconsin-Platteville (UWP) was quick to follow by forming their own team to compete the following year. Now the central region has three official women’s teams, the third being University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), who were unable to attend nationals this year. Now, at the end of the 2026 season, there are three more schools who have a chance at forming teams and joining the women’s league. This is huge! The women’s league has been dominated by Michigan State University and University of Akron since its debut, so seeing the league branch out of the Ohio/Michigan region into the central region is very exciting to be a part of. Let’s take a look at how the women of the central region did this season!
We celebrate the conclusion of the 2025-2026 season by recognizing and congratulating the individual players who put in the effort to make it to the All Central Region team. The teams that make up the central region are the following: University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Illinois-Urbana Champagne, University of Wisconsin-Platteville, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, University of Iowa, and University of Wisconsin-Stout. The players that make this team are voted in by their peers, and thank you to those who helped make this post possible. Let’s take a look at what they have to say.
Compared to previous seasons, the Central region made leaps and bounds in terms of progress and growth. Not only did rookie team Iowa host their first official tournament, they also sent ambassadors to this years national tournament in Athens, OH, AND they hosted the first ever Central Region Cup. The number of teams currently in the Central region–six official and four prospective–makes them the second largest region in the league, right behind the Ohio region with eight teams.
Each year nationals gives teams the chance to fight harder than any other game to come out on top. It also gives teams who haven’t experienced many games or every team the opportunity to show off their skills and hard work. This year, in the third annual Women’s National Dodgeball tournament in Akron, Ohio, 58 players formed eight teams across 9 school to battle for the trophy.
All photos included were taken by Kate Douglas (me).
UW-Eau Claire will be hosting their second tournament of the season on Saturday, March 28th, which will be the last central region event of the season. Those expected to attend are close rivals, UW-Platteville, with less than a week of rest from the last tournament they played in, and a large mixed team consisting of players from several schools–UW-Stout, UW-La Crosse, UW-Steven’s Point, UW-River Falls, and Winona State University. These teams are potential candidates for future growth in the central region, and these nearby tournaments allow them to get a feel for the league and hopefully feel encouraged to form their own teams. This tournament will bring the central region season to a close, so let’s see what these teams and players have left in them before nationals.
