BGSU: It’s A Start

I have been pleasantly surprised in the past couple of weeks with the amount of girls i’ve seen at the games. Granted they’re all on the JV or B team but hey it’s a start. I was especially happy to play against these girls on the SVSU and MSU teams and I hope to see even more in the future and tons at Nationals. On that note I would like to thank, on behalf of the team, to everyone who voted for the Nationals location. It just shows that we can eventually become an NCAA or at least a multiple conference league (starting with adding the west). I hope we can continue this great momentum and hopefully beat out the Intercollegiate Quidditch Association as better obscure sport college league…by the way they already have like 200 teams in like 3 years but they’re not quite as organized as we are (surprisingly). So anyways back to the point, great job girls and I can’t wait to see more from all of you!

Girls, Stats, and more

Hi everyone long time no talk…many things have happened here in Bowling Green, OH and I thought it was time to share. First of all we have another girl…yay! But I still expect more out of the girls here at BGSU hopefully we will make the number 3 or 4 by the end of this year…hopefully. Also just wanted to inform everyone that I’ve been talking with STATS a company who provides statistics for professional leagues like the NFL, MLS, and NASCAR just to name a few. Hopefully if things go alright we can get official stats like we’ve been talking about all summer and we won’t have to do them. Last but not least I’m excited to get game play going in a couple of weeks on the 14th. We’ve been looking pretty good at practice and if I do say so myself I and the rest of my team have improved. I can’t wait to see everyone and hopefully get some wins for this season!

SVSU win home opener

An improved Central Michigan squad gave second ranked Saginaw Valley a scare, but ultimately the Cardinals held on for a 3-2 win over the Chippewas on Sunday Oct. 25.

“I knew it was going to be a close one,” SVSU captain Bryan Janick said. “I had a feeling, especially for our first game. They’ve gotten a lot better.”

CMU captain Bryan Lynch also liked his team’s performance, despite the loss.

“I thought that our team did well,” he said. “Much better than previous years (against SVSU.)”

The Cardinals took the first point after about eight minutes of play, giving them a 1-0 lead.

“We pushed them back a lot,” Janick said. “We had them backed up. I thought was a good thing.”

The Chippewas (0-1), bounced back with a solid effort in the second point, tying up the score at one apiece.

“For our more experienced players, we saw how much we have improved over the last two years and I think it was  wake up call for the new guys to see what dodgeball is really about,” Lynch said. “I think we did well, but still have plenty to improve in to be thinking about a victory versus SVSU.”

“We needed to shadow a little bit better,” Janick said. “We had a few times when people got hit when people were supposed to be shadowing.”

SVSU responded, dominating the next point to go up 2-1 into the half. The point was fueled by several catches, particularly by Jason Stein and Joe Fetterhoff.

“We had a lot of huge catches,” Janick said. “They came at the right times.”

The second half started off with another Cardinal point, putting them up 3-1 with less than 20 minutes to play. Lynch felt his team lacked in experience in crucial situations.

“The difference between SVSU and us in the match was definitely patience,” he said. “There is no doubt that Saginaw has more fire power than us, but in clutch situations they were able to play smarter and make more clutch throws and catches than we were.

The Chippewas claimed the next point, though at a cost of running a significant amount of time left in the game, leaving them without sufficient time to tie up the score.

“That was really important,” Janick said of starting the year off with a win. “We looked kind of rusty but it was definitely a good start to the season, a big victory.”

The Cardinals, 1-0 after the win, travel to Allendale next to face three-time defending national champion Grand Valley State on Nov. 8. in what will be the Lakers season opener. Game time is 3 p.m.

WKU Rallies Late

Story by: M. Blake Harrison

“Our players couldn’t help but feed off the fan energy,” Josh Raymer said gratefully in reference to the crowd at Western’s home opener against UK.

It was that energy which propelled Western to a 1-0 start in its third year of competitive dodgeball.

Western, who played host to just its second-ever home game Sunday afternoon, was welcomed by upwards of 150 fans at the Preston Health & Activities Center on main campus.

The raucous crowd looked on as the Toppers took a commanding 1-0 lead to start the contest.

With the lead, Western zeroed in on their second point as UK lost men rapidly.

Finally down to one opponent, Western sophomore Luke “The Sideline Assassin” Gilliam nailed UK’s final hope to tie the match at one apiece.

With a commanding 2-0 lead, Raymer, who serves as the Hilltoppers’ head coach, chose to sub in some younger players for the third point, which they lost.

“We really just lost track of our game plan after awhile,” Raymer said. “Our level of play wasn’t as strong.”

UK won the fourth point to knot the game at 2-2 by the end of regulation.

The fact that the Toppers finished the half up 2-1 and tied 2-2 at the end of regulation highlighted the impact of Gilliam’s play early in the first half.

“It looks a lot better now than it did at the time,” Gilliam said after the match. “Little points like that can make all the difference.”

With 10 minutes of overtime to decide the outcome of the match, Western’s cheering section rose to the occasion.

With chants of “Let’s go Western,” and “T-O-P-S, TOPS, TOPS, TOPS” in the background, the home team prevailed.

WKU eliminated their final opponent with time to spare, sending a message to future foes:  Don’t mess with the Tops in Preston.

Freshman fan Joshua Amos summed up the crowd’s mentality, “With the fans behind them, I knew they could pull it off.”

The Noob Report

Story by: Kris Wright

Starting a new dodgeball club at your school may be the hardest part of dodgeball as a whole. Really. Because you have no club, then you have no team, and if you have no team, you can’t play, and that’s where the fun is.

Working on starting my second team, I have learned the do’s and don’ts of this process and how to keep a team running. Here are just a few things to remember when trying to start your club.

1. Advertise
By advertise I don’t mean go buy an ad in the school paper, I mean print out flyers and post them EVERYWHERE around your campus. Put them in every floor of every building and dorm, anywhere people will be so they can see that you’ve made a club.

2. Recruit
Not only do you need flyers, but you must also talk to anyone interested. Make announcements before or after class, in the student center and anywhere there is a large group. But make sure you’re professional about it or no one will take you seriously. Also, talk with athletes that play sports that aren’t in season, like basketball players in the fall or football players in the winter, and make the argument that dodgeball is a great way to stay active in their offseason.

3. Be Professional
When dealing with your school’s campus life and starting your club, don’t just “get around to it whenever.” Schedule meetings, check up on your club’s status and make sure you know everything there is to know to get your club started and off the ground. When going to meetings, don’t go in your hoodie and sweats. Instead, try a polo and jeans. Looking the part could make all the difference, and if your campus life director thinks that you don’t look or act the part, they may not approve your club, which means no dodgeball for you.

4. Fundraise
My final point is that you must fundraise in order to get anywhere with your team, especially if club fees and dues don’t cut it. If you need to fundraise, you have two good choices to raise money for your team. You can either really fundraise by going door to door selling candy or pizza kits or you can sell advertising space. Find any local businesses that regularly sponsor other college activities and start there by selling space on a science board or just plain poster board. This usually works better if you can get some home games, but brainstorm some other ideas that will entice businesses to advertise with you.

Starting your club is probably the hardest and most time consuming part of the dodgeball process, but stick with it and you’ll have a club that’s playing games in a matter of no time.

DWC and beyond

Well the DWC ended a long time ago and nothing surprising happened. The girls team almost won a round but we didn’t and the other team I was on got to the second round. I am really writing to you wonderful people today because I’m a little frustrated. My team has had a few practices so far and I am the only girl on the team…not even new girls came in when we did our big recruitment.

Most of the reactions I’ve been getting is the whole, “I don’t want to get hurt and I won’t be good so why bother.” That’s a whole bunch of bullshit. There are guys that come out that can barely throw a ball but they still come and have a good time. It’s upsetting to see strong women who are too scared to play a game for whatever stupid reason that project in their minds. What most women don’t realize is that we hold a power by being underestimated. The guys on opposing teams will consider us an easy out but we may have some fight in us. The women in colleges need to step up and become the secret weapon for their team and become a part of the great sport of Dodgeball.