Reviews – Page 3 – Dodgeball Club-UWP

Zanderthon Throw-Down VIII Recap

On March 2nd, 2024, we hosted the eighth annual Zanderthon Throw-Down which also saw the debut of UW-Stout and a little bit of round robin to end the day. We started off the very slow and did not look like ourselves and played an ugly first point. However, after waking up, we really started to flow and work as a team to get the job done. We quickly went up 4-0 and coasted to the end of the game. In the game against our Alumni squad, we didn’t have quite the outcome we expected. We held our own but at the end of the day the old timers turned back the clock and took us to school. To finish the day, we played a mini 6v6 style round robin that showcased smaller teams of individuals and put a fun twist on the end of the day.

Here’s what some of our players had to say:

Hollie Wheeler (Rookie)

How do you feel the tournament went?

After attending the UNL tournament film review session earlier this semester, I felt that this tournament went well based on my limited experience with these events. UW-Stout and the Alumni played hard, but UW-Platteville had their heads in the game and played well. It allowed for numerous newer players on UWP and UWS to gain experience and see experienced players and Alumni play and offer them tips.

What are some of the big takeaways you have from the tournament?

Being in a tournament really reinforces the idea that this is an intensive team sport. The team’s communication, encouragement, and passion really came to light. There is always room for improvement on both the individual and team level, so one big takeaway is witnessing how feedback can be applied on both levels. The fundamentals are very important, and I really enjoyed seeing aspects from our practices and drills come to life on the court. It really shows how our efforts translate to games against various opponents.

What are you looking forward to for the rest of the season?

I am looking forward to personally improving my performance so I can better contribute to the team on the court. One of the best ways to learn is to see examples and learn from more experienced players in action. I look forward to getting more reps, playing more games, and participating in the next tournament.

What was your favorite moment(s) of the tournament?

Watching the 6v6 matches was very entertaining because of the mix of players and faster paced games on smaller courts. This setup forced players to be closer together meaning they had to really communicate and watch every opponent carefully. Watching new, current, and graduated players have fun and show off their skills was really cool.

Caleb Laux (Captain)

How do you feel the tournament went?

I think that this tournament gave our team some much needed experience for our younger players. We also got to give Stout a taste of the league.

What are some of the big takeaways you have from the tournament?

We were able to recognize some of our weaknesses and we have a goal for continuing to improve the rest of the season.

What are you looking forward to for the rest of the season?

I’m hoping to turn some heads at nationals, this team can do it and I’m really looking forward to seeing it happen.

What was your favorite moment(s) of the tournament?

I was really happy to play in the 6v6 with my two siblings, Abby “Rose” and David. David is going to be a great rookie next year and Abby’s team will have made some great progress by then as well.

We want to thank our Alumni members and UW-Stout as well as everyone who came out to support us at our home tournament and made it the spectacle that it was. We also want to wish UW-Stout luck with the rest of their season.

Cornhusker Clash Recap

On (February 17th) we traveled down to Lincoln, NE, to partake in the Cornhusker Clash and our third meeting with the University of Nebraska. We went into the day hoping to get at least one win and to get some more experience for our rookies against some great talent on UNL’s squad. However, the day went just about as well as it did in our last meeting with UNL. We did manage to get a few very hard-fought points and showed signs that we can be a team that doesn’t go down easily. Too often though, we fall apart and stopped playing the game we know how to play and loss points in the blink of an eye. Looking forward, we plan on really getting at the nitty gritty and becoming the best we can be.

Here is what some of our players had to say:

Zach Brand
How do you feel the tournament went?

I personally think the tournament went okay, there was a lot of stuff that I noticed while playing and watching that we worked on in practice that just wasn’t being applied. Part of that though, at least in my experience, comes down to getting into a different mindset while in game to apply the things we’ve already worked on. Other than that, most of the other things we worked on in practice like blocking and staggering were there. This tournament really showed us that if we are going to compete with the bigger and better teams, then we have to put in a lot of work to get there.

What are some of the big takeaways you have from the tournament?

While we did lose and there’s still a few things that we have to work on, the biggest takeaway for me was that we can compete as a team and with that can at least make it harder for other teams to win even if we don’t in the end.

What are you looking forward to for the rest of the season?

Just getting out there and showing the other teams that we can compete with them, because it’s not just a matter of who’s got the fastest throw or who can catch the most balls, it’s the teamwork that’ll take us further as a club.

What was your favorite moment(s) of the tournament?

The team throw between Tomas, Caleb, Nick, and I was a really awesome moment that for me solidified that we can be a solid team, because the coordination between us four was really satisfying, and if the team can coordinate like that with everything else, we can compete with the bigger teams like MSU or Grand Valley.

Nicholas Stocks (President)

How do you feel the tournament went?

We learned a lot about ourselves such as individual strengths and weaknesses. We proved to ourselves that when we are constantly communicating on court we stay in and get outs.

What are some of the big takeaways you have from the tournament?

This tournament proved we as a team we can play and not make major mistakes. The scores of both games don’t show it but in most of the points we were with UNL up until the end. The small individual mistakes are what we struggle with and why we lose points. Once we all eliminate those mistakes, we will be dangerous.

What are you looking forward to for the rest of the season?

I look forward to seeing the team continue to work together and strive towards a common goal.

What was your favorite moment(s) of the tournament?

My favorite moment was when Tomas Zander, Caleb Laux, Zach Brand, and I all had a team throw to get the final out in a point.

Bryden Hundt (Rookie)

How do you feel the tournament went?

As a team, it was a great stepping-stone for progress. We competed, had successful moments and even won a couple points. The tournament showed we could play as a team and be very successful even against one of the toughest teams in the nation.

What are some of the big takeaways you have from the tournament?

Together as one. Everyone played their role on the team. Of course, we all have our minor flaws to work on, but we had great success.

What are you looking forward to for the rest of the season?

Since our next tournament right now is nationals, I look forward to causing a couple upset matches. If we play similar to how we played at UNL and keep ourselves disciplined and do the basics right, there would be nothing to stop us but ourselves.

What was your favorite moment(s) of the tournament?

Watching the team catches, we had a handful of great team catches and some great hits. The best part of the tournament had to be the points we won and competed in.

We want to thank UNL for the invite and great hospitality. We wish the Cornhuskers luck as we approach the NCDA national tournament.

First Half Review

As the year dwindles down, we approach the halfway point of the season and get a chance to reflect on the season so far. As a team, we haven’t had the start to the season we had hoped for. Right now we stand at 2-8 and ranked outside of the Big 16. That being said, we have had some good things happening in the background. For starters, we had a great recruiting class and they have picked up on the game fairly quickly. However, we lost some big hitters from the season before and have missed more of the veteran presence on the court. Too often we lose track of what we practice and points get away from us. Going forward we need to look at it as we are in a reload and not a rebuild. We also said goodbye to long time member Eli Huntley as he graduated from the University of Wisconsin- Platteville this December and his presence on the court will be greatly missed.

Looking towards the remainder of the season we plan on working on the nitty gritty things. Making sure we don’t lose focus of the game we play is a priority as well as getting our rookies more experience and filling the holes we have had. Developing our rookies’ knowledge of the game and fine tuning some aspects of the veteran game. We want to continue building the culture we have been creating around the team and becoming a tighter knit unit.

Here’s what some of the team had to say:

Tomas Zander (Co-Captain)

“I’m really proud of our recruitment efforts. We found a bunch of eager young players ready to learn and get better and proud of how the older guys have handled teaching them. I want to see the older guys shift from their focus on getting themselves to the next level. They need to clean up the fundamentals. If they can clean up the fundamentals they can look for some upsets in the next half of the season. I really enjoyed going to practice this semester. I didn’t make every practice so I was pleased when I showed up and all the board members taking charge of practices and encouraging the rookies to play hard.”

Ethan Schmeling (Rookie)

“I believe we had good ball control, and our communication went well and improved drastically as the season went on. I would like to see us improve on moving as a team and looking across to see where the team is as well as keeping an eye on the cross throws. Those really killed us in points last semester. I’d say some of my favorite moments were team bonding nights where we got to be a team off the court and form a better connection. Team dinners and bowling nights were always a great time. Bonding is key for a great team and having a great time with your teammates is an experience I’ll never forget.”

Bryden Hundt (Rookie)

“As a team, I would like to see our consistency improve. A lot of that comes to doing the small things right. As for myself, I would like to improve on my throw. I want to be more of a threat on the court. As a team, the first two points against Kent. That showed that we can compete, and we should be a lot more successful than we were. As an individual, I would have to say being a survivor player in a lot of points or the getting 5 outs in the match against CSU. The team started to find rhythm and our game towards the end of the semester. There were points where we would dominate, and I hope we can bring that back.”

That being said, we are ready to return to the court and continue to build the team up and make a push going into nationals. And as always, Go ‘Neers!!

Dr. Peter Broe Classic review 2023

We attended the Dr. Peter Broe Classic at Western Michigan. There we played Kent State, CSU and MSU. Going into the weekend we knew we were going to have to play some good ball. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned as we went 0-3. Throughout the day we felt as though we put together our team throws very well and the communication on these throws was some of the best we have had this season. We also feel that our movement as a team was much improved from earlier in the season. However, what really hurt us was our blocking and not seeing the cross throws in time. It is frustrating that we have continued to struggle at this aspect of the game for so long. Another huge downfall throughout the day was our inconsistency in play. We play strongly and do things correctly so well and then out of nowhere we fall apart and make mistakes that we should not be making.

Here’s what some of the players had to say:

Nicholas Stocks (President):

“Our performance at the Dr. Peter Broe Classic was not what we were hoping for. Not executing the fundamentals properly continues to be an issue the UWP squad has. The small things continue to be the death of our team, missing our blocks, for ourselves and teammates, not immediately attacking when the other team throws, once we do these things UWP will be a difficult opponent. While the score on the day doesn’t show it UWP did have some strong points, during the beginning of the Kent game UWP was the dominate force on the court. If we always have that same style of play, I expect an elite eight appearance and possibly a final four.”

Dylan Taylor (Rookie):

“The tournament went alright. We definitely could’ve done better, but we grew as a team. We had lots of great team throws and the communication improved as the day went on. We were very aggressive during the points we won and worked well as a team. However, we need to work on keeping this aggression during the whole day. We also need to work on rotating throwers more. Most of the throws were done by the same couple of veterans.”

Zak Lathrop (Secretary):

“Overall, I feel the tournament could have gone way better than it did. There were things we did great at but there were many other areas that we still need to work on. For the most part when we played as a unit we dominated on the court. We killed with our transition game and counters. As I said previously, we dominate as a unit. It’s when we start to fall apart and slowdown that kills us. The team needs to continue the intensity on the court at all times. Once we can consistently work together and play together. We’re a force to be reckoned with.”

Daniel Breitenstein (Rookie):

“While I had fun, I was disappointed with how we performed. We didn’t work together well, and we definitely suffered because of this. When we did communicate well with each other, we were able to coordinate attacks effectively. We were able to execute good team throws that got outs. Better communication and coordination. This is the area that we need the most improvement, especially during games.

All said and done, we had a great time attending the event and wish our fellow competitors’ luck in the last half of their seasons. Go ‘Neers!

Pioneer Classic IV Review

On November 11th, 2023, we hosted the fourth annual Pioneer Classic. Teams that attended included: Nebraska, Illinois, Concordia, help from UW-Stout and an appearance by some of our alumni. We thank everyone that came and not only participated but came and supported us to make the event the spectacle that it was.

In terms of play, overall we went 2-1 on the day with our loss coming to UNL. We had moments throughout the day where we struggled to stick to how we know to play and in those moments became our biggest downfall. However, there were also times where we worked together and did what we know how to do best and showed how well we can perform as a unit. Early on we struggled to find our footing against UNL and it showed. Much like previous meetups this season, we found ourselves in a hole early on and never really recovered. We had moments where we thought we got a grip only to lose control in a matter of seconds. In our other two ranked matchups we got ourselves in a rhythm and were able to control the game the way we wanted to. We still had moments where we let the big picture get out of sight but were able to hold off the opponents and secure the win.

Here’s what some of our team had to say about the event:

Eric Sullivan (Rookie):

“I think last tournament was good in some ways but bad in others. For most of the points we worked well as a team and had great communication. The points that we lost or came close to losing we had issues communicating and we weren’t working together. We definitely learned a lot about how we need to play better and how we can more effectively communicate on the court and make smart plays.”

Zak Lathrop:

“The tournament overall went as expected, other than UNL. I knew that it was going to be challenging against UNL, but if we just would have played our game, we could have taken way more points than we did and maybe even won. CUW and UIUC, although we won both, we played sloppy and didn’t play our game. We have to play the same way all the time no matter who we are playing. But overall, the tournament went well and I’m proud of the things we accomplished.”

Nicholas Stocks (President):

“UWP’s performance at the Pioneer Classic proved we can compete with top teams such as UNL if we are able to effectively communicate on court and not fall victim to other team’s moments of chaos. This was a great tournament where our rookies were able to get valuable game experience. As a team and as individuals, we know what we need to work on to make ourselves better.”

We had a great time hosting this event and give a lot of thanks to the teams that made it possible as well as the fans that showed up to support us. If you missed the action and would love to see the games, check out the links below and make sure to subscribe to our channel to get notifications for our future games! Go ‘Neers!

Red Cedar Rumble Recap

On October 28th, 2023, we took an 11 man squad to the Red Cedar Rumble in East Lansing, Michigan. In this tournament, we had hard fought battles against some of the best in the league in Michigan State and Grand Valley. Our roster consisted of five rookies and six of our veteran members. Overall, we went 0-2 on the day and only managed to score a point in each game but got tremendous experience for our rookies that made the trip worth while. That being said it is quite clear that we have fundamental things to work on but when we work as a unit we have shown that we can have moments where we can compete with anyone. Here are thoughts that some of our members had to say about the Red Cedar Rumble:

Dylan Fabry:

“I thought that we as a team did really well against the top teams for the second tournament of the season. I thought that the rookies improved a lot compared to the first tournament and that we are headed in the right direction. The rookie that stood out the most to me was Ethan as he did a great job blocking for others on the court after they threw.”

Toryn Swartout (Rookie):

“I think the tournament went really well for our second one of the season. We did decent considering the talent of MSU and GVSU. The points we won were well earned but we have a lot we can work on.”

Caleb Laux (Captain):

“As a captain, I am really proud of how our team did. Going up against some of the best teams in the league and coming out with a point on each of them is a great sign for the young players we brought to this tournament.

It was many of our roster’s first tournament of the season, myself included. In particular, we had a few rookies get good experience. Ethan Schmeling stuck out to me as he was doing a great job. But all of our rookies have grown tremendously in the last few weeks.

With the closeness of some of the individual points despite being a player down with no subs, I believe that we made it clear that Platteville will put up a fight against any team we face and come out smiling when we give it our all.”

In the end, it was not the outcome we were hoping to have but ended up being a great experience for our newer players and we loved being able to compete with some of the best in the league. We hope to improve going forward and wish our competitors good luck with the remainder of their seasons. You can check out the games at the following links on our YouTube Channel. Make sure to subscribe to our channel to get notifications for our future games, Go ‘Neers!

Cyclone Clash Review

On October 7^th we attended the first ever Cyclone Clash. This matchup was UWP vs UNL at an agreed neutral location. This allowed both teams to have an easy drive home as well as give Iowa State a taste of what NCDA dodgeball is like in attempts to bring another club into the league. In the end, we left with an 0-2 record and a lot of work to do.

In the first match we struggled to get going, it was not until about halftime that we started to show some signs of life. Once we were able to start getting our offense going and get more ball control we started to last longer, and we did not give up any short points. We struggled with easy drops and errant throws while also running into numerous shot clock violations. After halftime, we came out in the second half showed at times where we could have gotten a point or two but ultimately took steps backwards and let things get out of hand.

After the intermission, we started game two and once again were off to a slow start. However, some of our rookies started to pick up on some aspects of the game and came out of their initial rookie nerves. UNL’s attacks still managed to get the best of us as we struggled to establish our game. We stayed in points longer than we had in the first game, but we still struggled to work as a team with the shot clock and often times let too many throws get away from us. The second game brought some additional excitement as both teams received a yellow card in the second half.

In the end, we were extremely grateful to Iowa State for allowing us to use their facilities for this tournament and hope to see a team develop in the near future. We also had a lot of fun playing our aerial rivals UNL and would like to thank them for a great tournament. An extended thank you also goes out to UW-Stout for coming down and assisting in the officiating side of things. Going forward we have plenty of room for improvement and hope to see more rust shaken off our veterans and also look forward to see more breakout performances from our rookie players.

Our next tournament will hopefully be at MSU on October 28^th followed by our home tournament on November 11th!

2022-23 End of the Year Recap

Just like that another year is in the books. Through the many miles on the road and the late night practices, many memories were made. Fighting through injuries, snow storms, and the long drives through flat never-ending states; we survived. We laughed, we fought, we had our share of sand kicked in our face, but we kept pushing forward.

UWP Dodgeball Spring Season Recap

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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.