It is the end of the semester and it is time to grade the teams of the Midway Conference. This is at the request of Anthony Goetz of Midland University, ask and you shall receive, I just hope it is to your liking. The grading will be done by the yours truly, your favorite content writer. For this semester, some of the teams were very active and others were still trying to put a team together. This makes it challenging to grade these crews as I have yet to see them play. Let’s take a look at each team and the grade I feel they earned.
Eau Claire- (B) The Blugolds this semester are working on keeping numbers up and getting prepared to compete next semester. I wish they would have put a match in this fall, but I guess I will have to wait for next semester. It would be nice to get another active Wisconsin team in the mix.
Minnesota- (B) This crew may take some time before they are able to compete. Right now their biggest concern is trying to get consistent gym times in order to recruit individuals to make a team. My hope is that they make it out to a least one tournament next semester as it would be fun to add another state to the NCDA league.
North Park- (B) This unit was busy this semester with fall sports. With their athletes’ fall seasons complete, North Park hopes to be very active after the New Year. With DePaul in their backyard it shouldn’t be too long until they are playing games on a regular basis. Right now they just need to continue to keep building a team up and getting people interested in playing.
SIUE- (A) Yeah an A, I just went there, because this team impressed me with their first tournament. They traveled five hours to come up and play Platteville and DePaul and it was their first real time playing with rubber balls instead of foam. SIUE was not afraid to catch, and picked up on the game quickly. Excellent leadership in place.
Midland- (A) That is right, I give this crew an A for this semester. They are just a new club and have already played several games this semester. As a unit, they are full of energy and love to compete. Midland is already making plans to travel to Platteville, and already are taking stats for matches. Midland has good leadership and will continue to grow and improve next semester. I predict they get a win against Nebraska.
NIU- (C) I’m giving this team a C. In watching film from these guys, oh wait, they have not played this year so I can’t watch any film. What happened with these guys? They were so eager to be a part of the league and play and this semester we have not heard anything from them. NIU wanted to host nationals and not one game has been played by them or even an attempt to host an event. They have teams that are close enough in distance, this shouldn’t be a problem. Hopefully, next semester the Huskies get out and get a few games in.
Whitewater- (C) Tied for the lowest score for all the teams in the Midway Conference. In their second year, they have yet to play in a single match and had to drop out of a few tournaments. I had high hopes for this team this year and could have easily seen them be a competitive team. It could be their lack of numbers at practice, but whatever it is, it needs to change next semester so the league can see what the Warhawks are made of.
Nebraska- (B+) I have to give this team credit, they are really eager to be more involved with the league and it is showing with all the tournaments they have taken part of and hosted. In the few games I played against them, I was expecting more and hoping for closer games. There is talent there, I just want to see more of it.
DePaul- (B+) The DePaul Dodgeball Society has really impressed me this year with how well they have been performing. Most teams in the league thought they would drop off with all the senior players they lost, but they have strong leadership. It is a different team, before games they stretch and warm up as a crew and during the semester they set up days for conditioning to help improve their skills. This team is trying to give themselves a new image and let teams know that they can compete. I couldn’t give them an A as they had a few losses to teams that they should have won against. With all their new players having match experience, I expect them to be even better next semester and make for an even stronger competitor.
Platteville (B-) With my squad, I’m going to be a little harsh on the grading because I expect more from my team and hopefully it will motivate them. Yeah, we have taken care of business against some of the new opponents in the league, but it wasn’t that pretty. We need to play with higher intensity in these games, play more as a unit, and do the little things correctly. Platteville also needs to play better against the tougher opponents and play smarter. Too many of our outs were simple mistakes that should have not occurred. I know that more than half our club is first year players, but that is no excuse. I feel that they should be further along in their skill level and understanding of the game. I’m expecting the Platteville Board to step it up a notch next semester and get more consistency and improvements from our players. The nice thing about this group is the chemistry, and if we can pull that together on the court and play more for each other, we will be a challenging team to play.
Final Thoughts
There you have it Anthony Goetz, the report card for the Midway Conference, I hope it was to your liking (if not, oh well). These are the scores that I gave each team and some of you may think I graded to hard or not hard enough, either way the teams of this conference have a lot of work to do for next semester. How would you grade some of the teams of the Midway Conference? Any expectations you have for these clubs going into next semester? Let us know and comment below. Keep on dodging everyone!
This website is wonderful news and you guys are killing it. Don’t praise my comments though, because you guys are writing exactly what I’d like to say. I like what you guys post on here but I’m not good at dodgeball… wish I could write like you and be semi-decent at this game. Too bad I’m a childish fool. Oh well, back to counting the number of licks to get to the center of a tootsie pop! (I can’t keep track though because I lose count after 4)
I say again, these grades are great. All these teams deserve As.
I’m persistent with my praise. This is writing at its finest, while I’m over here trying to be a better me. Better watch yo back on the court cus you finna get a compliment from me like “hey boi, you been workin out? I can tell, you look healthy.”