Rocket League Fundraiser

On August 8, the NCDA teamed up with the Dodgeball Club at UW-Platteville to host the league’s first ever Rocket League tournament. Rocket League is a fast-paced, exciting online video game featuring remote control cars with special abilities whose goal is to push a larger-than-life soccer ball into the opponent’s net as many times as possible in a given time limit. This event raised money to go towards the Tim Ebert Memorial Scholarship, which goes to help the NCDA’s internship program. The goal of the event was to raise $500 and I’m excited to announce that we raised over $750 through entry fees and donations.

The NCDA teamed up with current players: JT Warren (UWP), Jacob Sebranek (UWP),Caleb Frank (CMU & NCDA intern) and myself to host this competition. This tournament consisted of 9 teams that went head to head to be crowned champions. We started with a round robin tournament followed by a double elimination bracket, and the games were live-streamed for everyone to be a part of the experience. Teams consisted of current and former players from the league. Some of these schools included: UWP, VCU, and WKU. In the end, a team from WKU took home the title as the NCDA’s first ever rocket league champions. There was no one more excited about this than Felix Perrone (WKU alumni). As his response to the victory of his former teammates was, “WKU wins their first championship tonight”! A very much deserved win for sure!

NCDA Scholarship Fundraiser

This year the Platteville Dodgeball Club will be hosting an online tournament to raise money for the Tim Ebert Memorial Scholarship. With all the uncertainty going on, Platteville wanted to ensure that they could continue to help the NCDA with their internship program. For this year’s fundraiser, the Platteville Dodgeball Club will be putting on a Rocket League tournament. The tournament will be held August 8-9. Registration is due by July 26th, at 11:59p.m eastern time.

A special thanks to Caleb Frank for creating and designing this flyer.

NCDA Internship Program Continues

The NCDA believes in the development of our student-athletes’ education and is proud to announce that we will be able to continue our Internship Program. The NCDA offered an internship last year and was able to develop a startup guide for new and current teams (Startup Guide). As part of the completing the internship and meeting our expectations, the NCDA was able to offer a scholarship to that intern for their work.

Ballistae Dodgeball Gear Becomes Official ‘Dodgeball Gear’ Sponsor of the NCDA

Starting October 1st, the NCDA and Ballistae Dodgeball Gear will begin their partnership for the 2020 NCDA season. Ballistae Dodgeball Gear offers supplies designed by dodgeball players for dodgeball players. Their gear is second to none in the dodgeball world for both quality and comfort, and is a valuable asset to add to the NCDA’s growing list of partners.

As part of the partnership, the NCDA will receive back 10% of sales through Ballistae’s website if individuals use the following code: ncda2020. Additionally, use of the same code will provide players with a $5 discount on knee pads purchased through Ballistae. You can also find other useful equipment through Ballistae such as headbands, throwing sleeves, and more. Please check out their website today and get yourself equipped with the best gear in the game!

NCDA Reaches New Partnership Deal with Lucid Travel

The NCDA has renewed their partnership with Lucid Travel, an organization dedicated to helping college club sports teams and organizations raise money through travel. Lucid Travel provides a quick and easy way to compare hotel deals across multiple sites and finds the best deal that fits you and your team’s needs. For every room per night that your team books, the NCDA receives a rebate which will go towards helping us run the league. Additionally, you can make a customized page for your own team so that you can have rebates whenever other teams or individuals book hotel deals through your link! Be sure to check out Lucid Travels and our other partners on our ‘Partners‘ page, and book your next hotel deal today!

A President’s Final Thoughts from the Last Four Years

As some of you may or may not be aware, the 2020 fiscal year officially begins today. With this comes a change in leadership for the NCDA. Keeping consistent with the expectations set forth for nonprofit organizations in the US, our Member Teams have voted in new board members as others will be making their way out. For me, my second two-year term as President of the NCDA came to a close last night at midnight. Though I would have loved to stay in the position for many more years, the bylaws of the NCDA state a president cannot hold the position for more than two consecutive terms. When I authored the bylaws, policies, and constitution in 2015, I specifically put this clause in place to make sure the NCDA doesn’t get stale. With new leadership comes new ideas, methodologies, and opportunities. Selfishly, I would love to keep the title, but in the best interest of the organization I’ve been so intimately involved with since 2008 I know this is the correct thing to do. I have full confidence in Hunter Ford who will be a great president and continue to lead the NCDA into new and exciting ventures. Over the next two years Hunter will become frustrated, overworked, and underappreciated, but if his experience as president was anything like mine, getting to see the joy, friendships, and game highlights that college dodgeball brings will all be worth it.

Mad City and NCDA Reach Partnership for Nationals 2019 Streaming

The NCDA will be partnering with Mad City Events and Mainstream Media, LLC for this weekend’s College Dodgeball National Championship Tournament held at Grand Valley State University!

Games will be broadcast live on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch from 8AM-4PM EDT on Sunday, April 14, 2019.

We are confident that this weekend’s top-notch production will have an extremely positive impact on our league, and the sport of dodgeball as a whole!

The Complete History of the WDBF

The Complete History of the World Dodgeball Federation

Every Member Nation’s relative strength after every game

Technical Documentation – WDBF Global Rankings

WDBF Womens, Sorted.

Standing	Nation	Rating	Status
1	🇲🇾 Malaysia	44.681	2017 Gold
2	🇦🇺 Australia	44.411	2017 Silver
3	🇺🇸 United States	43.973	2017 Bronze
4	🇨🇦 Canada	41.186	2017 4th
5	🇭🇰 Hong Kong	40.543	2017 Attending
6	🇲🇽 Mexico	38.403	2017 Attending
7	🇮🇹 Italy	36.167	2017 Attending
8	🇨🇲 Cameroon	41.350*	2018 Non Attending
9	🇨🇫 Central African Republic	38.650*	2018 Non Attending

* denotes a provisional rating (< 6 matches)

Gonzalez Standings WDBF Womens

WDBF Mens, Sorted.

Standing	Nation	Rating	Status
1	🇲🇾 Malaysia	48.665	2017 Gold
2	🇨🇦 Canada	44.058	2017 Silver
3	🇦🇺 Australia	44.877	2017 Bronze
4	🇺🇸 United States	42.773	2017 4th
5	🇲🇽 Mexico	41.832	2017 Attending
6	🇳🇿 New Zealand	40.791	2018 Attending
7	🇭🇰 Hong Kong	39.595	2017 Attending
8	🇮🇹 Italy	37.799	2017 Attending
9	🇦🇷 Argentina	40.000*	2018 Attending
10	🇨🇫 Central African Republic	42.135*	2018 Non Attending
11	🇨🇲 Cameroon	40.215*	2018 Non Attending
12	🇹🇩 Chad	39.000*	2018 Non Attending
13	🇬🇦 Gabon	38.650*	2018 Non Attending

* denotes a provisional rating (< 6 matches)
Gonzalez Standings WDBF Mens

Ranking Order:

Inactive Member Nations are not listed
Sort Worlds attendees first, then others.
Sort the most recent Worlds medalist according to their placing; Gold, Silver, Bronze, 4th finishers of the last Worlds will always have a standing of 1-4.
Sort by Gonzalez rating

In late October of last year, 2017-10-21 to be precise, I had the privilege of watching live results of “Worlds” come in from an event hosted by Dodgeball Canada in Toronto.

These results were barely “live” like other sports might be privileged to experience, but dodgeball is in a nascent state despite the NCDA’s efforts and contributions. There were posts from fans watching the live stream, but the results I went for were the cell by cell updates to a simple Google Sheet.

We have a fellow Chicagoan and DePaul alumnus Vegim Begolli’s Mad City doing great things in developing event production and streaming quality live feeds. Dodgeball has much to learn from the achievements of eSports. Other organizations are coming to appreciate the value of records. At the very least, we are improving from hand written poster boards of brackets posted to social media. With actual reliable data gathering, we can evaluate competitors based on quantitative analysis and avoid the many pitfalls of opinion based Captain Polls.

As my first feature article as part of the new Statistics Committee of the WDBF, and as the United States representative of Dodgeball Canada’s Statistics Committee, I present the Complete History of the World Dodgeball Federation. Continue reading “The Complete History of the WDBF”

League Expansion and Retention: Fall Edition (18-19)

INDIANAPOLIS – Office of the Director of League Expansion & Retention: With Colleges and Universities already heading back to school this weekend (some went back this past weekend), most if not all of our upcoming teams are hinging on having success at their school’s respective fall recruitment fairs. Many of our current member teams depend on this success as well. Before clubs start competing in late September, we will go into detail who our prospective clubs are, and how soon we see them competing this season. As an update in itself, Brett Hadwin (CMU alum) and Kyle Dattelbaum (UNG alum) have taken on the role as my assistants for this season, and have already started much of the leg work required to get us off on the right track for the 2018-19 season. Continue reading “League Expansion and Retention: Fall Edition (18-19)”

My Dodgeball Story: Nathan Council (SVSU)

I approached Kevin a while ago (he probably stopped believing I’d actually write this) about telling my Dodgeball Story. I read some of the others that have been submitted this summer and it made me want to tell mine. I know there is a story inside of me but I have been struggling with how to tell it. How do I tell my story which is personal but also make it meaningful, insightful, and at least somewhat entertaining to the people reading it that do not know me? I decided to simply go for it and not worry about it. Selfishly, I’m telling this story in hopes that I can move on. I’m hoping that once I am finished I will feel a sense of closure. Closure that I have been missing since I left SVSU in 2014. Continue reading “My Dodgeball Story: Nathan Council (SVSU)”

My Dodgeball Story: Sean Smith (Towson)

It seems all too common for dodgeball stories to begin with an obscure story about how an individual discovered the sport on their college campus. This story will be no different.

Before moving in to campus as a freshman in Fall 2011, I knew I wanted to play a club sport, but I wasn’t sure which one or how to even get involved. The smart kids went on Towson’s website and researched this type of thing, meanwhile my lazy behind decided to just show up and hope I could figure it out. Little did I know my laziness would actually turn out to be the best thing of my first year at Towson.

Continue reading “My Dodgeball Story: Sean Smith (Towson)”

Who Will End ‘The Streak’?

The state of Michigan’s 11-year national title run will come to an end eventually (maybe even this year). Here’s a look at the teams who came closest to ending ‘The Streak’ in the past, and those best positioned to do so this year:

The state of Michigan has had an unprecedented amount of success in collegiate dodgeball over the past decade or so. In fact, a team from Michigan has won each of the last 11 NCDA Nationals Titles. This 11-year-run has been incredible, but there have certainly been a few close calls along the way.

Here we are, less than a week away from crowning yet another College Dodgeball National Champion, and ‘The Streak’ is still alive and well. Before I dive into which teams have the best shot to end this steak in 2018, here is a quick history lesson on the closest misses that have occurred during the 11-year stretch:

Continue reading “Who Will End ‘The Streak’?”

NCDA Regional Hierarchy – November 2017

The question often arises: “Which Region is the best in College Dodgeball?”. While Michigan has historically had the best region in the country by a large margin, the argument for 2nd and 3rd place was always a big debate.

While reviewing the most recent Power Rankings, I noticed that the race for strongest region is much closer than some may anticipate. In fact, depending on what one determines to be the most important criteria, there could be a case made for several different regions as the best in the NCDA.

Over the past decade, many have accepted the narrative that the Michigan Region is the best in College Dodgeball and that it will never change. After taking a closer look at our current power rankings, the distinction of ‘strongest region’ is more up in the air than people may think.

I used two different methods to analyze the NCDA’s ‘Regional Hierarchy’, both of which were based off November’s Power Rankings. For reference, here is the top 20 for November: Continue reading “NCDA Regional Hierarchy – November 2017”

Standings as of 2017-10-31

The Gonzalez System now includes 260 technical upsets in 1337 (leet) ranked matches. For the 2018 Season, we’re at 24 technical upsets in 87 ranked matches. We’ve also seen twelve JV contests, and four new schools: Midland, Southern Illinois Edwardsville, Gonzaga, and Oregon St. All the following data is current as of 2017-10-31.

If you’d like to know more about the Gonzalez System, please refer to our Spec Doc detailing the system. And as always, I’d be more than happy to answer any questions. Continue reading “Standings as of 2017-10-31”

Standings as of 2017-10-11

This feature article was co-authored with Felix Perrone

In three events across a similarly expansive swath of the country as last week, we played 15 ranked matches and three JV contests. This has brought the records to a nice and round 1300 ranked matches. We saw a feature article with Dylan and Felix, in this feature article, Felix and I will present some more fun facts regarding that large chunk of data. Complete records span eight seasons, from the Opening Match on 2010-09-25 to this weekends games of 2017-10-08. While we have a number of matches recorded from 2005-2010, those records are not complete and as reliable so we refer to those as the dark times.

We had three events this weekend at PSU, GSU, and GVSU.

So far:

50 matches played in the 2018 Season (another round number!)
23 teams of our 32 active teams have played (not as round)
just 1 overtime (way under average)
11 technical upsets (about on target)
a historical leader dips (more on that later)

Continue reading “Standings as of 2017-10-11”