Dodgeball Rosters and Rules

Our pickups are much more laid back! We only enforce the basic rules of the game and we are there to just hang out and have fun. 

Teams for dodgeball will consist of 6 people on the court at a time, however you are encouraged to have more people on your roster as subs for when people need a break or can't make it.

If you sign up as an individual, you will be placed on a team of ~8 people.

Teams will need to have at least one female on their roster, and can only have a maximum of 5 males on the court at one time.

We will be following the rules set by USA Dodgeball.

The basics:

-If you are hit with a ball, you are out.

-If you catch a ball thrown by the opposing team, the person that threw the ball is out and a player from your team gets to come back in.

-You may use a ball to block another ball thrown at you, however if the throw causes you drop the ball you are blocking with you are out. 

-A ball is considered live (in play) until it hits the ground or anything not in the field of play (wall, ceiling, chair, etc.). A ball is still live if it is blocked and hasn't hit the ground yet.

-If you step over the center line or outside of the court boundaries you are out.

For our more competitive players, a full USA Dodgeball rule set can be found at https://www.usadodgeball.com/rules

Matches will be 8 minutes long, and you will play as many games against the team you are playing as you can in those 8 minutes. A game is won when all members of the opposing team are out. Each game won will be worth 1 point. After 8 minutes, the team with the most games won is the winner. Any game that is not finished will not count toward the score. Matches can end in a tie.

-Teams will start with at least one foot on the back line. There will be 6 balls on the center line, with 3 on the right and 3 on the left. When the game begins, your team is only able to retrieve the 3 balls on your right side.

-At the beginning of a game, a ball must cross the behind the attack line (the line on your side closest to the center line) in order to become live and able to be thrown. A ball becomes live when it is held by a player with two feet behind the attack line.

-Once the teams have retrieved the balls, the team with "burden" (more balls) will have 10 seconds to throw enough balls to eliminate the burden. This will continue until the game is over.

"Burden" - A burden count is used to keep the pace of play moving. The team with more balls is considered to have the burden of throwing. If the number of balls is tied, the team with the burden ball (a different color ball) will be considered to have burden. The team that has the burden will have 10 seconds to throw enough balls to get rid of the burden.

"Ball control" - The team with more balls is said to have ball control. This is usually a good thing as it means you have more chances to hit the other team and they don't have as many balls to block with!

"Momentum catch" - a ball that is caught in bounds, but then the player who caught the ball falls out of bounds due to the momentum of the throw. This counts as a catch and the player who caught the ball is still in.

"Corner" - The two players on the far right and left of your team. These players are usually your throwers and are usually the priority to have a ball in their hands at the competitive level.