Tomorrow in East Lansing, Michigan, two of the Ohio teams will begin their 2017-2018 season with Michigan State’s home tournament. This is no small task, as the four Michigan teams in attendance are the same who filled the final four at last years Nationals. Let’s take a look at the Ohio Region. Continue reading “Ohio Preview: A Short Look at Each Team”
Author: Colby Briceland
2017 All-Ohio Team
This year we will be revealing the first All-Ohio Team EVER. This is a pretty big deal for the Ohio region, and it is well deserved, as the region begins to strengthen and grow with every season. Now, not all Ohio teams are represented on the list, as some haven’t gotten as much exposure in the league as others, this will change next year as the Ohio region continues to expand.
2016-2017 Second Team All-Americans
After the intensity and discussion that resulted from the First Team All-American list, the NCDA will now present the Second Team All-American list for the first time since the 2012-2013 season. There were certainly a lot of great options in a year with more talent than ever before. Listed below are this years Second Team members as selected by their peers.
Rule Proposal: Balls Live on Play Stoppage Rule.
Written by: Wesley Peters
Rule Proposal: When a stoppage of play is called (of any variety), balls which are in the air remain live until they are either caught, team caught, or hit a surface/object/etc that renders them dead, regardless of whether they have hit a live player or not at the time of the timeout being granted. (AKA they remain live until they are dead, not instantly ruled dead) Further, if a referee is GENUINELY UNABLE to determine whether or not balls were airborne before or after the timeout is called, the balls will be considered to have never been thrown, and given back to the team that threw them in the first place.
Rationale: The rule is currently broken, and can be exploited in the following way: Team A throws (any number of balls, the more you throw the worse it gets) at Team B. Team B calls timeout as soon as Team A throws and the balls have entered Team B’s zone, but not close enough for them to be near anyone on Team B’s LAZ. Therefore, Team B is awarded those balls (Because they are dead upon timeout since they have been throw but not made contact with anyone on Team B, and Team A’s shot clock resets down to the lowest increment of 5.
So to summarize, Team B get’s Team A’s balls for the cost of their timeout, and Team A still needs to throw to reset their initial shot clock because even though Team B gets those balls that they threw, their throws legally do not count. The way the rule is currently written not only hurts Team A tremendously, but that effect is exacerbated if it happens on the throws immediately following a balls over call, thus effectively nullifying the effects of the balls over altogether.
I don’t recall why we initially changed this rule to balls in the air are dead off the official’s whistle, but I think it was because it was difficult for the official to rule whether they had been thrown before the timeout call. I think personally it is not that difficult to tell as an official if you are paying attention, so the pros should vastly outweigh the cons by changing this rule.
Also, I would like for this to be voted upon and changed ASAP so that any matches that may happen next weekend or at nationals are not subject to this possibly happening.
Review for Kent State’s Matthew Kelsey Fundraiser Tournament
I hope that you all are recovered from a hopefully fun Saint Patrick’s day! While this past weekend did not hold any sanctioned NCDA bouts, I was privileged enough to be able to participate in the Matthew Kelsey Fundraiser 6v6 Tournament held by Kent State on Saturday March 18th. Matt “Kelso” Kelsey was one of Kent State’s original club members and has been recently diagnosed with Leukemia and the proceeds of the tournament went to help Matt with any costs he might have. The tournament was a great success and raised 776 dollars for Matthew with the 10 teams that showed up and the other donations that were made in his honor. Continue reading “Review for Kent State’s Matthew Kelsey Fundraiser Tournament”
A Day With Leski
I decided to interview Jacob Leski for this article. He is the former President of Central Michigan’s Dodgeball Club and current Director of League Expansion and Retention for the NCDA. He is well known in the league for his loud play and great catching ability, but off the court he is a great guy and genuinely loves the league and the sport of dodgeball, and works very hard to see it flourish.
King of the Hill Preview!
The following was written by Zachary Parise of the University of Kentucky
Just as I said in my last article, this semester is looking to be one of the best in recent NCDA history. We are only a month away from the biggest tournament of the year and this season has already seen more matches, and more upsets than ever before. This weekend, Western Kentucky University hosts the very first King of the Hill tournament. WKU will play host to Akron University, North Georgia University, and the University of Kentucky. Along with the standard three matches for each, UK and WKU will be playing for the Kentucky state cup for the first time since 2011. Let’s take a look at each team and what to expect. Continue reading “King of the Hill Preview!”
Ohio Dodgeball Cup Review
This year’s Ohio Dodgeball Cup was nothing short of exciting this past weekend. I don’t believe that anyone could have predicted that outcome. Congratulations are in order for the Ohio Bobcats, your 2017 Ohio Dodgeball Cup Champions! I have to be honest, I thought it would be a long time before I would ever say that! But they did it, and they deserved it.
ODC Preview Gets Anonymous
By Kyle Shaw: President and Captain of the Reborn Miami Dodgeball Club
We’ve had two this week, why not a third to continue the hype? ODC is bringing 9 teams to Newark, Ohio this weekend. With more teams than any state, this looks to be a great tournament with a lot of teams having a legitimate shot at taking home the trophy. I wanted to get captain’s opinions on each of the teams, but minus all of the normal fluff you hear, so I had them give me their brutally honest opinions under cover of anonymity. With there being 3 new teams coming in, there is obviously a little less to people have to say about them, but nonetheless, here are the captain’s unfiltered thoughts about the 9 teams coming to battle this Saturday:
Ohio Dodgeball Cup Preview
By Adam Pfiefer, President and Co-Captain of the Akron Dodgeball Club
The time has come once again. This will be the 7th Annual Ohio Dodgeball Cup Championship. For some teams, this championship means quite a bit. In the past three years we have seen the Ohio region grow from four teams all the way up to where we sit today at nine teams! There has been much growth along with much decline in the different programs throughout Ohio. Although maybe not as talked about as the all-important Michigan Dodgeball Cup, this tournament has seen some amazing game play and unpredictable results in the past two years.
This section will be where I as an Ohio player stick up for the Ohio teams as a whole. Although the Michigan teams and others who have had long term success in the league, i.e: James Madison and University of Kentucky, do not sleep on these Ohio teams. SVSU learned this last year in the second round of nationals when they fell to THE Ohio State University. A few of these teams could potentially pull an upset at Nationals 2017. Do not make the mistake of thinking you have a free ride out of the first round this year.
For the first time the ODC will be played at a neutral location in Newark, Ohio at the local YMCA. This was all made possible by Adam Hynes, current player and student for Ohio University. What does this mean? NO HOME COURT ADVANTAGE FOR ANYONE. Although OU still has some advantage knowing what courts to expect, no one team has played on these courts and will have that luxury a home team gets when competing. Also new this year for ODC is the trophy. The pictures look great and every team is hungry to be the first and take that thing home with them.
Let’s get real now. The Ohio teams all love each other, for the most part at least. But it is not all pictures and smiles. On the court these teams do not pull their punches. Every person wants to win and have the bragging rights for the next year in Ohio. Taking home the cup will also be a huge inspiration going into nationals in April. Time to stir the pot.
Preview for Bobcat Bash I
We are back in the swing of things here at the NCDA and it’s time for OU to host the first Bobcat Bash! Hopefully we’ve all had time to recover from the turbulent BEAST VI tournament, and the whirlwind Super Bowl. This could prove to be a battleground for lower-tier teams to show what they’ve got, as well as a controversial Central Michigan team to prove to us that they are still a force to be reckoned with in the league. Continue reading “Preview for Bobcat Bash I”
Rundown of the Ohio Teams
This seems to be a great season for Ohio dodgeballers, Ohio University is playing the best they have ever played, Kent State and Bowling Green State are reclaiming their former glory, and The University of Akron has become a force on the court and can hang with most teams. Ohio dodgeball is becoming so competitive that it’s hard to predict the ODC this season. Now, I apologize in advance to OSU and Baldwin Wallace because I don’t know how your teams have been this season, because I have not played you, and this article is about my observations from playing these teams, as well as each Ohio Captains’ opinions about their respective team. Continue reading “Rundown of the Ohio Teams”