Season Preview: Michigan State

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MSU Sophomore Noe Galaviz will be expected to lead the Spartans to another Final Four appearance and maybe more this season. Photo Credit – Nicole Bailey

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Location: East Lansing, Mich.

NCDA Region: Michigan

2013-14 Record: 10-13

National Tournament Finish: Lost to SVSU in the Semifinals

2014-15 Captains: Colin O’Brien #18 – C, Andy Lieblich #20 – A, Alex Zajac #27 – A

Returning Varsity Players: 20 (18 from Nationals)

Players to Watch: Colin O’Brien #18 – C, Andy Lieblich #20 – A, Alex Zajac #27 – A, Noe Galaviz, & Charlie Wilshire

Overview: For a team that has never won an NCDA National Championship, the Michigan State Dodgeball program has built up quite the resume. Continue reading “Season Preview: Michigan State”

Season Preview: Western Kentucky

Location: Bowling Green, Ky.wku-logo

NCDA Region: Kentucky

2013-14 Record: 4-10

National Tournament Finish: Lost to JMU in the Quarterfinals

2014-15 Captains: Nick Johnson – C, & Hunter Dickison – C

Returning Varsity Players: 8

Players to Watch: Josh Hicks, Dexter Banks, & Nick Johnson

Overview:  Western Kentucky comes into the 2014-15 campaign with quite a bit of momentum.   Continue reading “Season Preview: Western Kentucky”

Season Preview: Virginia Commonwealth

Location: Richmond, Va.

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NCDA Region: East Coast

2013-14 Record: 0-6

National Tournament Finish: Did not attend

2014-15 Captains: Adam Hallers – C, & Matt Bosco – C

Returning Varsity Players: 5

Players to Watch: Unknown due to the majority of the team being newcomers

Overview: Virginia Commonwealth has historically been the weakest team from the East Coast region.   Continue reading “Season Preview: Virginia Commonwealth”

2015 Executive Board

Elected members of the National Collegiate Dodgeball Association Executive Board of 2015. These five have voting rights.

Zigmas Maloni [DePaul Alum], President
Felix Perrone [WKU Alum], Treasurer
Dylan Fettig [GVSU Current], Director of League Expansion
Kevin Bailey [GVSU Current], Chief of Content
Nick Johnson [WKU Current], Director of Nationals

Other appointed positions that are worth mentioning at this moment:

Hunter Dickerson [WKU Current], Assistant Director of Nationals (Non-voting)
Josh Raymer [WKU Alum], Big Giant Head of Alumni Relations

For the full results, check out the spreadsheet. If you are lazy, you many see the breakdown after the jump.  Continue reading “2015 Executive Board”

Season Preview: Central Michigan

Location: Mount Pleasant, Mich.cmu-logo

NCDA Region: Michigan

2013-14 Record: 8-13

National Tournament Finish: Lost to Kentucky in the first round

2014-15 Captains: Wes Peters-C, Brett Hadwin-C, Scott La Valley-A, and Zach Bachner-A

Returning Varsity Players: Every player returns for CMU

Players to Watch: Wes Peters-C, Brett Hadwin-C, Scott La Valley-A, Zach Bachner-A, Michael Heller #77 , Tyler Prill #21, Shane Willette #69, and Ian Ryan #14.

Captain Wes Peters will look to lead CMU this year as they look to rebound from a first round exit at Nationals last season.
Captain Wes Peters will look to lead CMU this year as they look to rebound from a first round exit at Nationals last season.

Overview:  Central Michigan comes into the 2014-15 season in an interesting position. Continue reading “Season Preview: Central Michigan”

Important Questions Heading Into 2014-15

With most schools starting up their seasons already, or in the next week or so, it seems like now is the best time to preview the upcoming season. Since teams don’t know much about themselves or each other, there are a ton of questions that can be asked about this season. Continue reading “Important Questions Heading Into 2014-15”

2015 Exec Board: Election & Candidate Info

We will begin the election as of this post, and officially it will run until Thursday night, giving teams ample time to submit their ballots. I will start bugging people Tuesday afternoon to submit their votes, so we might complete the election sooner rather than later.The NCDA uses a preferential voting system, where candidates are ranked based on preference, and the Votes are public record. The results will be released after the conclusion of the election. Voting is open to all current Member Teams. If there is any confusion, please ask.

For each Office, rank the candidates by your order of preference. Please email one complete ballot to League email (ncdadodgeball@gmail.com), the votes will be counted and verified by the last Director of Nationals, Jude DuPart [OSU Alum].

Office of the President:
[ ] Dylan Fettig [GVSU Current]
[ ] Zigmas Maloni [DePaul Alum]

Office of the Treasurer:
[ ] Felix Perrone [WKU Alum]

Director of League Expansion:
[ ] Dylan Fettig [GVSU Current]
[ ] Mike McCarthy [SHU Current]

Chief of Content:
[ ] Kevin Bailey [GVSU Current]
[ ] Sean Smith [TU Current]

I asked each candidate to write a little something for this. So if you require more information, each candidate was sorted alphabetically and describes in their own words…

Continue reading “2015 Exec Board: Election & Candidate Info”

Ranking the Regions

The National Collegiate Dodgeball Association is not yet to the point where participating schools can be categorized into “conferences” like what the NCAA has done with college athletics.  For now, every team can identify with a certain region, instead of claiming membership to a “division” or “conference”.  As it stands in the NCDA right now, there are five regions: Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, and East Coast.  Here is my power rankings of the NCDA’s five regions: Continue reading “Ranking the Regions”

Nominations for 2015 Exec Board

Captains and Officers:

On the forum you’ll find a couple things relating to the Executive Board. These are very broad overviews of the in-progress Constitution, but the 2014 Board thought they were necessary to establish before voting on the 2015 Board.
First: the board itself. President, Treasurer, Director of League Expansion, Chief of Content, Director of Nationals.

Any new nominations (or declines) on the 2015 Executive Board now that we have established the positions? Nominations since Nationals 2014

  • President: Zigmas Maloni [DePaul Alum]
  • Treasurer: Felix Perrone [WKU Alum]
  • Chief of Content: Sean Smith [TU-Pres], Kevin Bailey [GVSU-C?]
  • Director of League Expansion: Dylan Fettig [GVSU-A?], Troy Dixon[DePaul Alum], Alex Swedowski [UWP Alum], Michael Patrick McCarthy[SHU-C?]
  • Director of Nationals: Nick Johnson [WKU] and Asst Director of Nationals (non-voting): Hunter Dickerson [WKU]

and apologies if i forgot someone. Please get their name as soon as possible.

BOTM July: Joe Tobin

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[Towson, #5]

Joe Tobin has been a staple of Towson’s Dodgeball team since our inception into the NCDA. He was the first of us to successfully pick up on what pinching is, and since then he’s cannon of a right arm has been taking people out all over the place. Even when Towson has bad games, Joe has consistently been there to help pick us up or bail us out of bad situations. With his selection of July’s Baller of the Month, I had a chat with Joe to see how he feels about the nomination, among many other things. Continue reading “BOTM July: Joe Tobin”

Ultimate Dodgeball: Local Qualifier Results

1557493_667346349970264_1598301668_nSky Zone Indoor Trampoline Parks holds an annual dodgeball tournament titled the “Ultimate Dodgeball Championship”.  Sky Zone parks around the country hold “Local Qualifier” tournaments over the summer, with the winning team from each qualifier becoming eligible to compete in the “Championship Tournament” held in Las Vegas in mid-August. Continue reading “Ultimate Dodgeball: Local Qualifier Results”

BOTM: 2014 June

Brent Gromer [JMU-00]

The National Collegiate Dodgeball Association’s June Baller of the Month is James Madison’s Brent Gromer.  Brent had a strong performance at Nationals 2014 in April, after recovering from an injury to his ACL and medial meniscus that kept him on the sidelines for most of the season.  In his three seasons in this league, Brent has transitioned from an unknown player, to one of the best all-around dodgeball players in the NCDA.  His strong performance at the end of last season earned him 1st-Team All-NCDA honors (Brent was the #6 player on the list, and the top selection from the East Coast Region).  Brent Gromer is very deserving of the honor of “Baller of the Month”.  Here is my interview with the star player from James Madison: Continue reading “BOTM: 2014 June”

Comparing Nationals Pools to World Cup Pools

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Photo retrieved from: http://hdwallpapermania.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/2014-fifa-world-cup-logo-hd-wallpapers.jpg

As I’m sure everyone is well aware of, the World Cup is underway. After watching the first set of pool play games and getting a better sense of how good every team is, I thought it would be fun to come up with some mock NCDA groups that could potentially mirror groups A-H in Brazil. Continue reading “Comparing Nationals Pools to World Cup Pools”