CMU Showdown Recap

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This past Saturday Central Michigan University hosted perhaps the greatest regular season tournament in the history of the NCDA. It certainly was the best regular season collection of talent that I have been involved in since joining the league. Joining the Chippewas at the CMU Showdown were GVSU, JMU, SVSU, and MSU. The Dukes of James Madison made the trip from Virginia all the way to Mount Pleasant to take on the Michigan Schools that had all just played a month prior in the MDC.

The hosts of Central Michigan put on a dominant performance and left with a perfect 4-0 record. In doing so, they halted Grand Valley’s attempt to break the all-time consecutive win streak that ended at 41 games. The Lakers finished the day 3-1, with the loss to CMU coming as their first of the season. The long trip for JMU resulted in a 2-2 record. MSU improved on their poor performance at the MDC to finish with one win, one loss, and two overtime losses. SVSU was unable to come away with a win on Saturday, finishing 0-4.

Continue reading “CMU Showdown Recap”

March 22nd Executive Board/Nationals Meeting Minutes

NCDA Executive Board Members in attendance: Zigmas Maloni, Felix Perrone, Nick Johnson

Notes on the Meeting:

  • Went over the Nationals Budget.
    • Added a few items we missed, updated the list of entry fees which included extra shirts and pizza ordered from JMU.
    • Addressed the Officiating payments.
    • Generally, pay will start at Minimum Wage (about 7.25 / game) with Head Referee getting more pay for each game.
  • Went over some of the Alumni and Ladies registrations.
  • Discussed potential income from business for sponsors.
  • Some discussion had in the current state of the four ranking systems, and the seeding needs for the Sunday Tournament bracket with 15 teams.
    • Standard 16 team bracket with 1 seed getting a bye.
  • Set a hard deadline for a Nationals Saturday scheduled pool release on April 9th.
    • May try to be earlier, depends on schedule.

Meeting Duration: 1:45

CMU Showdown Preview

This Saturday will involve one of the biggest regular season tournaments in recent memory.  Central Michigan University will host a 5-team tournament entitled the “CMU Showdown”.

In attendance at this event will be five of the top ten teams in the league, including the top four in the current NCDA standings.  While this tournament will be overshadowed by Nationals less than a month later, there still is quite a bit on the line this Saturday in Mount Pleasant, Michigan.  Here is an overview of each attending team’s situation heading into this weekend’s tournament: Continue reading “CMU Showdown Preview”

10 Years in the Making: The Rise, Fall and Resurrection of OSU

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The National Collegiate Dodgeball Association has had ten editions of its national tournament. Eight titles have been won by the state of Michigan but the first two, the inducting tournaments, were won by The Ohio State University.  Most people seem to forget that OSU took home those titles, having been lost in the shadow that was and still is the dominance of Grand Valley. This begs the question, was it Ohio State the changed which caused their fall from the top of the mountain, or did they fail to keep up with the evolution of the league? To answer this question we have to jump into our time machines and figure out what was the league really like during its early years. Continue reading “10 Years in the Making: The Rise, Fall and Resurrection of OSU”

Return to Prominence: The Resurgence of the Central Michigan Dodgeball Program

CMU fell off the collegiate dodgeball map shortly after winning the national title in 2011, but thanks to the dedication of the leaders on their current roster, the Chippewas are once again considered an elite team.

 

cmu-logoIt was the conclusion of the final day of NCDA Nationals, held at Western Kentucky University on April 10, 2011.  Central Michigan had just won the national title over Grand Valley State University in what many still consider the most exciting college dodgeball game ever played.  The National Collegiate Dodgeball Association’s landscape seemed to have drastically shifted. Continue reading “Return to Prominence: The Resurgence of the Central Michigan Dodgeball Program”

Akron Invite (Ohio Dodgeball Cup) Preview

akron-logoOn Saturday March 21, Akron will play host to Kent State, Bowling Green, and Baldwin Wallace in this season’s addition of the Ohio Dodgeball Cup (ODC).  This will also be the last regular season tournament for the 2014-15 season along with the CMU Showdown which takes place the same day. Continue reading “Akron Invite (Ohio Dodgeball Cup) Preview”

2015 Rulebook

Attention All: Sorry about the extreme delay on this year’s rulebook release, we really went through everything and fine-tuned the format, grammar, and some of the rules that might have been difficult to interpret. Most of this year’s rule changes don’t actually alter the game, other than [4.3.6.2 & 4.3.6.3] which is primarily to blame for our delay in publishing.

The changes this year primarily focused on making the rules more easily understood for those who are new and interested in playing by the NCDA’s ruleset, as well as those who have been playing for years. We invite every member of the NCDA to read through the rulebook and offer some sort of suggestion for future changes. Again, we apologize for this year’s delay, but hope everyone will take the time to become familiar with the changes before this year’s Nationals at Western Kentucky University April 11-12.

At the Annual Captain’s Meeting on the evening of April 11th we will vote on any changes the league would like to see added or retracted from the 2015/2016 rulebook which will be published by September 1, 2015. Please post any rule change suggestions to the forum for further discussion. If you have any questions, please comment below and a member of the NCDA Executive Board will be happy to answer

2014-2015 NCDA Rulebook, Officiating Manual, and Casebook

The Satirical Opinion of Felix Perrone

What if Other Sports Were Like Dodgeball?:

Familiar Quotes, Constantly.

Having played dodgeball competitively for over a decade, I can attest to the following phrases being some of the most overused and over-associated with the sport I love: “Oh like the movie?”, “If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.”, “So you hang o Continue reading “The Satirical Opinion of Felix Perrone”

2015 Michigan Dodgeball Cup Recap

The temperature was in the negatives in East Lansing, Michigan on February 14th, but inside IM West, the competition was heated as four of the top teams in the nation squared off in the Michigan Dodgeball Cup.  The 2015 MDC was expect to be a classic, and while only one of the matches was decided by a one point margin, the MDC still was an entertaining tournament. Continue reading “2015 Michigan Dodgeball Cup Recap”

“Don’t Forget About the Little Guy”

The following was written by Adam Hynes of Bowling Green State University:

As being a member of the NCDA for a few years now I would like to say that I love this league and the memories it has given me.  I love how competitive each game is and how well diverse the league is.  However there comes a time where teams are sometimes forgotten due to them not having a big name in the league.  Usually if your name doesn’t start with Grand Valley, Central Michigan, James Madison, etc, the league can either forget you or just not know much about you since the bigger names are out there.  When I say forgotten I don’t mean it as the team doesn’t matter or doesn’t exist.  In this article I thought I would share some insight on my beloved team, Bowling Green State University. Continue reading ““Don’t Forget About the Little Guy””

How I Would Beat a Michigan Team

From Aleks Bomis [MSU Alum]

A team from Michigan has claimed the title of NCDA National Champion eight years in a row.  That is an impressive and undeniable fact.  Unfortunately, my treasured Spartans have no bearing on that; I, at 29 years of age, was on the squad that achieved Michigan State’s sole Michigan Dodgeball Cup victory, a game played against a community college in a church recreation room.  I can still hear the dodgeballs carom off the radiators to the dismay of the building’s staff.  Delta College was kind enough to have purchased the MDC Trophy, and in (I think) 2023 an additional base will be attached to the Trophy.  The MDC is now regarded as a preview of the NCDA Final Four, much to the dismay of the rest of the league.

I am not so arrogant as to call Michigan the heartland of college dodgeball; teams existed in Illinois and Ohio long before anyone of the Great Lakes State showed up to play, and their names are etched in the NCDA Trophy, as is mine. [Ed: The Nationals Trophy -zm] Still, Michigan’s historic performance is remarkable.  Having said that, it’s time someone beat these guys and took home the hardware.  If I were captaining a dodgeball team 10 years younger, here’s how I would go about busting up the established order:  Continue reading “How I Would Beat a Michigan Team”

BOTM: 2015 January

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Tyrell Smith (BGSU)

After a strong performance at the Kentucky Invitational, your January Baller of the Month is Tyrell Smith of Bowling Green State University.  Here is an interview I had with Tyrell after the tournament at UK:

 

Kevin Bailey – First off, congratulations on winning NCDA Baller of the Month.  You have been a standout player for Bowling Green State for a few years now.  What do you think is the reason for your individual success on the dodgeball court? Continue reading “BOTM: 2015 January”