Written by Kenny Mize
THE NCDA TAKES ON THE WORLD!! October 21st-22nd
The World Dodgeball Championships are this weekend, and the NCDA was privileged to receive an invitation to play in this event from Duane Wysynski, President of Dodgeball Canada.
The NCDA will be fielding two teams during this event, USA Blue and USA Red. The two teams are led by two of most experienced dodgeball players in the NCDA. Kenneth Mize (Saginaw Valley) will be leading the USA Blue team, while Jeff Starr (Ohio State) will be leading the USA Red squad. Selecting the teams were hard, we had some long and fierce deliberation between Jeff and Myself. The teams were hard to pick but after a few days we finally figured out our teams. Here I will now go into the depth about the teams and the strengths of each team, also I will include who was our number 1 pick and why for each team.
USA Blue
Kenny Mize (C) (SVSU)
Noe Galaviz (MSU)
Owen Ritchie (SVSU)
Colby Briceland (Akron)
Ben Johnson (OSU)
Kevin Frye (Ball State)
Rebecca Shappell (MSU)
This team has the firepower to take out most overtime rosters in the league, with experience from top to bottom, led by three of the top Michigan players in the league this team has a chance to make some noise and get the crowd into it over the weekend.
My first pick was Noe Galaviz, some people would ask why I would select someone who hasn’t played for MSU all year, and if I didn’t know who he was and the type of player he is when he is on the court I would be right there with you. I have seen him play for multiple years now and I can say comfortably that when he is on the court he is one of the best players to play for MSU. He has a cannon of and arm and has sneaky catching ability. I am fully expecting him to do big things this weekend. I selected the team that would have the least amount of problems translating their game to this format. With Elite experience, Ultimate experience and multiple years of NCDA experience this team has the ability to handle whatever is thrown at them this week.
USA Red
Jeff Starr (C) (OSU)
Josh Connor (OSU)
Cassie Weaver (Kent)
Mitch Aldridge (Kent)
Peter Broe (WMU)
Jean Ann Tan (St Cloud St)
Damon Gwi (UMN)
Adam Pfeifer (Akron)
Led by the dynamic duo from OSU, this team looks to use its cohesion with playing with one another to win this weekend, as this team has three duos from three schools. This team has attitude and are very experienced from top to bottom.
I know Damon and Jean aren’t household names for anyone in the NCDA but from what I’ve heard they are fireballers that can throw. Josh Connor was the first pick for this team, and for obvious reasons such as this is Jeff’s teammate and basically brother. They have been the dynamic duo for years at OSU. Josh is no stranger to dodgeball and has the skills to be a top player in the league. Similar to my first selection, Josh has not played in the NCDA all year, but he should be just fine when he steps on the court once again. He will be called upon to be a leader for this team and bring home the championship.
The strengths of this team is experience, between 5 players they have over 25 years of experience. This team looks to take their wealth of knowledge and the chip on their shoulders and show the world that USA Red came to play.
Overall, this weekend is a great chance for exposure and experience to those who are going. I hope this becomes bigger in the future for the league and we are for sure going to be bringing home that Championship!
-Kenny Mize
