The second half of 2020 collegiate dodgeball season abruptly ended due to the COVID-19 outbreak. With that in mind, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville dodgeball team would like to thank all the first responders during these difficult circumstances. As we all know, the end of a semester brings about the graduation of our seniors. We would like to give a proper shot out to our lone senior on the team, Captain Daniel Brogli aka Dirty Dan. Dirty Dan will be missed for his leadership on and off the court and for being a great teammate to all. Let’s take a look at some of his final thoughts as a player this year.
Captain’s Recap– (Daniel Brogli -AKA Dirty Dan)
The second semester was sadly cut short, but there was a lot of progress in that time. It started with a few weeks practice and then back-to-back-to-back tournaments, which posed some struggles. The Cleveland tournament showed the players who went what the team needed to work on. From there, the team came back and played really well at the home tournament. The last tournament was The War before the season came to a halt. The part that improved the most from these tournaments was the teamwork on the court. The players were continually working together and not relying of a few to carry the team. Having a handful of rookies caused the later, but they were really on top of stepping up as the semester progressed.
This year’s recap is kind of hard to judge because we did not see a “finish” to the season. I do have high hopes going forward for the team. I am the only one graduating this spring and the team will be able to build upon what they started. Individual players are gaining a lot of skill, and it is contributing to the balance of the team. More players are able to step up and they’re building confidence in themselves and it shows. By having focused work at practices and a presence at tournaments, this team can be a challenger and a contender.
The Viking Cup
During the second semester, the Dodgeball team competed in three tournaments: The Viking Cup, Zanderthon Throw-Down 5, and War IV at Akron.
The Viking Cup was the first tournament that the dodgeball team competed in during the spring semester. It was hosted by Cleveland State University on February 22nd. The dodgeball team took on SVSU (Saginaw Valley State University), CSU (Cleveland State University) and Ball State University. This tournament brought mixed results with 1-2 weekend with some close matches. The UWP Dodgeball team lost to SVSU 2-1 in a thriller, lost to CSU 3-4 in a collapse, and won versus a rebuilding ball state team. The team went through highs and lows during the Viking cup. Time expired on a comeback against SVSU. UWP then rode the momentum from that match and started off with a few points against CSU. After that, UWP started playing a bit scared and stopped being aggressive and was unable to secure the win. We bounced back in our final match of the day against BSU and was able to take the win without much trouble.
Zandathon Throwdown V
The second tournament of the semester was the second home tournament of the season, which took place on February 29, 2020. Three teams participated in Zanderthon Throw-Down and they were: UWP, SIUE, and Nebraska. UWP went 2-0 on the weekend defeating SIUE 8-1 and Nebraska 2-1. The Second annual Cone game was a long back and forth match with long points. At the end of this tournament, our younger players started to gain more experience and confidence in their abilities on the court. As a team, things were slowly coming together as a unit.
War IV
The Third tournament of the semester was the War at Akron. The tournament took place on March 7, 2020. UWP faced the following teams: Akron University, University of Cincinnati, and West Virginia University. This was a rough tournament in the way of record, but it was a great learning experience. As a unit, we were only able to bring a squad of 8. For the first two games against Akron and UC, it was just figuring out how we needed to perform to compete with our opponents. In these matches, the scores may have not showed it, but several points could have gone either way. In the last match of the day, we were finally able to play a complete game as a team against WVU. By working as a unit, we were able to play a fast pace and stopped playing scared. Our transition game and our ability to push hard allowed us to make a comeback down 3-1 to tie it up with 8 minutes left. Unfortunately, we could not get another point and lost to West Virginia. The scores of the day were: UC 6-1, Akron 5-0, WVU 4-3. UWP went 0-3 on the day but found that if we started to believe in ourselves and work more as a unit, we could start flying our way back up in the standings and have a good showing at nationals. It was a great way to end the year and we cannot wait to get at it next season!