Standardization

Come on U.K. get in with the program......start using rubber balls it brings more of an intense atmosphere and is sure to attract more serious players and die hard fans than foamish things. Real dodgeball players use rubber balls.

why cant you have one in Colorado

We utilize two different sizes because most of the leagues/events we do are coed. It is pretty tough for most females to throw an 8.5 playground with any velocity and when one teams ladies are gone, it spices up the game as the guys can use the sixers on the remaining male opponents. Can see using uniform balls for non coed, but that is primarily what we do. Besides, like a little bit of sting in my dodgeball.

Use 6 big balls baby....if the ladies cant do it let them adapt.

when and where is ur dodgeball tournament in texas?

There are too many governing body's. It getting like boxing for crying out loud! Each one has their own rules and balls you have to buy for Tournament play. The sport can not achieve the respect it deserves, and the growth we need if this keeps up. I've been to every site on the web it seems.. talked to and received info from them all. The IDBF, NADA, ADF, etc. etc.

After doing my home work, I decided to form the Greater Rochester Dodgeball league. After care full consideration, We felt that the International Dodge Ball Federation was the best to form a League under. They are working hard to standardize equipment and rules for all. WITH OUT the high membership fees and high equipment costs, $15 per TEAM for a YEAR allows you to play in any sanctioned tournament.
The balls are about $12 to $15 compared to $20 or $30 from the others. They seem to have the largest membership base with leagues all over the world.

If we are all going to stand behind one governing body, I recommend the IDBF. They are a not for profit organization with the sole goals of promoting the sport and standardizing rule and equipment. They were quick to reply and happy to send rules and forms at no charge. Thats the way its supposed to be.

I have nothing against the other organizations. Anything to give the sport recognition is a help to us all. I just don't want to see Dodge ball turn into another joke like boxing! If we all work at it Dodge Ball can be a truly international sport for all to enjoy.

Keep on duckin!

JIM C

Idbf wants you to use their foam balls right???

I absolutely agree that standardization is a must. Some play with Ins and Outs, some don't. Some play with IDBF balls, others play with NADA balls, while others play with old school red murder balls! There's gotta be a uniform ball if dodgeball is to become an official sport.

As for IDBF balls, I find that they're terrible. I can barely grip them, which means I can't throw them, nor can I use them to block. They're nurf-like indeed.

As for NADA balls, I like them the best. They're easy to grab and easy to thrown. The only problem is what Jim has noted. They don't last long. Has anyone found a good alternative? Our Nada balls are dying, and I'm looking into using European Handballs. Whatever the case, there's gotta be something that lasts longer. Also, being from Canada, it's pricy buying Nada balls.

Lastly, to make our games go faster, we've instituted a 10 second holding rule. Also, we don't play with NADA dimensions. We play with smaller courts, and thus, this induces people to thrown the ball. We don't have problems with people throwing the balls. Rather, we have problems with people being honest!

If we do play with official Nada courts (volleyball courts) we play with a No Man's Land in the middle, where both teams can cross into without penalty. This is great because it rewards those who go on the offense.

Hope this helps.

Use the red murder balls.

IDBA is the IDBgay! $15 bucks for nerf balls and this is a pro as opposed to a con (notice the nifty play on words..)

Target sells GYM BALLS for three bucks, if you are not playing with rubber gym balls you are not playing dodgeball. I really really really wish i could rid the dodgeball community forever of those stupid safety balls

ben
LADS

You are the man.....DOWN WITH FOAM!!!

i agree the foam balls just dont give the satisfaction of watching someones face get a swollen red waffle imprint on it. Dodgeball is a violent game and i think it should remain that way. me and my friends joined a dodgeball tournament lookin to have fun and maybe hurt some kids and get hurt. instead we got stuck playin with foam balls. ya it was lame.

The reason some of us play with the foam balls is because we throw harder than your average dodgeball player. The league that I play in has quite a few guys that can lay an imprint on your face with a foam ball. I would hate to see someone get charged with involuntary manslaughter because they literally killed someone with a rubber ball. I'm not trying to be macho about this, but maybe you should play with a rubberball if you can't get your satisfaction of laying an imprint on someone's face with a foam ball.

no way. You lie. Nerf is for co-ed and charity events.....you cant take yourself seriously if you are using nerf or foam.

LOL You shouldn't be applying titles to others! Rules have nothing to do with your sexual preference. You are referring to the NADA which use rubber coated foam balls. The IDBF uses cloth covered bladder type balls. They still have some bounce at least. I prefer the old 6 inch rubber bombers myself. No Federation will sanction their use, except the pro league which has insurance coverage. Grow up boy! (You are obviously a teenager as you haven't grown out of calling things you don't like gay.) This is the age of safety and lawsuits and political correctness. As much as I would like to turn the clock back to better times it ain't gonna happen. Its kind of like voting for president. You have to chose the lesser of the evils. Use what you want, play where you want. It make no difference to me. But if you want to play in large tournaments you are going to have to follow SOME organizations rules. You can go play your back yard games if you wish.. I want to compete against, and test my skills in LARGE tournaments. That way when I win it won't be a meaning less victory against drunkin fools in some bar tourney. I still say IDBF is the better choice of leagues out there. A bit of advice. I would be careful who you call gay in D ball. D ballers are a bit of a rowdy sort, you might get a ball shoved down your throat.

JIM C

My only problem with the IBDF is there rule packet. The damn thing is 30 + pages long. For the love of god, shorten it down ...

As for the Balls, there needs to be a happy medium to go to. I've played with the Rubbers and with the NADA balls and here is what I hav learned

Rubber Kickball - The best part about it, is that it is cheap as sin. It costs $3 and its durable - depending on the type of surface that it is applied to. I've played in tennis courts with it and the balls pop and tear pretty quickly. Other than that, the ball is quite evil. It stings, leaves welts, and you need a decent sized hand to get a really good grip on it.

Nada ball - Its a foam ball with a vynil shell, which looks dinky and crummy at first. For those who are in the rec profession they are also known as Gatorballs and Rhinoskins.

I've used these suckers for about 3 years now and here is my biggest complaint. They are not durrable. We play twice a week with 30 people each night and a set of 18 balls will last about 5 months. To top if off, they are expensive. At $100 for 6 balls, the cost is high, and unless this drops, I cant see the Rhinoskin making its way into a real big system of play.

But here is the up side with them. The ball can do anything. Unlike the rubber balls or volleyballs, the Gatorskins can do more. Curveballs, breakingballs, corkscrews, sliders, pancakes, rainbows, submarines, frisbees. It gives everyone a distinct advantage in play. The ball is 8.5 inches around and even guys and gals with smaller hands can throw it.

Of course there is the plus side of it having less of a chance of inuring someone. And if you think that its stupid to not take that into consideration then I'm going to guess that your only into the sport to see people get hurt.

With a Radar gun, our guys can still clock a "Foam" ball at 78 mphs.

It doesnt take a genius to figure out which ball I champion. But before I leave, I have to agree with my man JIM C up top and say that, constructive comments are welcome to this thread while ones regarding the sports "sexual prefrence' can take a back seat and leave.

-Jim O

www.westernspringsdodgeball.com

You are correct about the slowness of association rules and its slowness.

At home we incorporate a "wildfire" rule where balls must be thrown ever 10 - 15 seconds, but this is only used when a game has gone too long.

What do you do to speed up your games?

-Jim

Has anyone seen the NDL website. I think they've really got it going on. www.nationaldodgeball.com.

I've played with the rubber balls with Jim O and I don't mind them, however they are way to easy to catch. I could catch anything you throw at me with those cause you can't get any grip on the ball to style a throw or a curve unless you have Marty Booker hands. The Rhinoskins are better cause they bring a whole new element to the table, and you can probably throw them faster than the rubber balls. And don't tell my you can't get hurt playing with the RhinoSkins. I dislocated a figure with one of those bad boys thrown at me. It was awsome. Oh, by the way, does anybody know where I can get the RhinoSkins for cheap? I've got a club at the University of Illinios. Hit me up!

-Mike, mosterh2@uiuc.edu

I recently discovered that there's this whole huge world of Dodge Ball happening out there - I had NO clue! I am a big fan of the sport and, at 32, I figured to never really play it seriously, as part of a team. I heard through email about someone starting an Orange County league and that got me searching the web. I've looked at all the websites I could find that were Dodge Ball-related or advocated it as a sport, and the most thorough and well-thought out site I found was the International Dodge Ball Federation. With lots of people throughout the world already associating with them, with the rulebook, the guidelines, the video line on it's way that will help standardize and streamline coaching/ref'ing and league play, the only thing they were missing was a hot website. Well, I'm a graphic designer, so I offered to re-design their site and now it's very nice looking, if I do say so myself! :D It will be live soon, but if you can't wait to check it out, then you can see it here:

http://empireneptune.com/db
(and the original site www.dodge-ball.com )



Anyway, I've spoken with Rusty and he's knowledgable, friendly and excited about Dodge Ball even after many years of working in the industry and I give my full support to him and the IDBF. I'm building the Central California Dodge Ball League and the IDBF has been a tremendous help - and I think it's amazing and great that so many of you out there are working hard to do similar things. Let's all get behind the IDBF and build Dodge Ball into a HUGELY satisfying sport! And for those of you who complained about the length of the rulebook, consider this: I bet the NFL, MLB, NBA (and other major, national sports) couldn't fit THEIR rulebooks into several hundred pages! With structure and growth comes the inevitable bloat.

Hit me up if you want to network or need help with anything. Peace!

Namu Williams
namu@empireneptune.com

We checked out all the leagues and most aren;t what I would call leagues. I have run youth and young adult sports leagues all my life and the only dodgeball 'league' is the IDBF.

They have rules, equipment, and sanctioning and when we sanctioned this year- we all got wallet cards and I got a certificate for the league including a million dollars of insurance coverage for the league. Players get 25 thousand worth of accidenrt insurance too I think.

They may not be perfect but there doesn;t seem to be anything close right now- We've talked to them about ideas and changes and they at least have a way to submit the changes to their rules committee.

They never talked bad about everyone else either when I talked to them. When I started looking for a sanctioning body- I didn;t hit them till third and everyone I talked to first poor-mouthed everybody else. IDBF folks were nice and knew all the details about how to do it.

My two cents for what it was worth.

D Rogers, P&R Dept
Willing,PR

I applaud the IDBF for trying, but I don't think many people would want to play the game by their rules. They only use 1 ball at a time! Can you imagine playing dodgeball with only 1 ball? Ultimately, that amounts to a slow and unsatisfying game with no blocks and no surprises if you ask me. If standardization takes place, it should be mostly based off of how most people play the game already. Multiple balls should be used, and they should be red.