Dodgeball is a great sport for you and your university to get involved in. At British Dodgeball we currently have 41 affiliated university clubs that field over 80 teams to compete in our leagues and open tournaments across the UK. We also offer coaching qualifications which can increase sport students’ career prospects, have designed specific resources and offer to support your university to develop its dodgeball offer.
Furthermore, dodgeball is a BUCS Sport which our team works to coordinate in partnership with BUCS in addition to holding our own one-day open events throughout the year. You can see more details on our University events page.
We recommend that in order to get going with dodgeball at your university you are going to need somebody in place or a group of people to take the lead and coordinate getting everything started.
This could be a staff member, student or a group consisting of more than one person. Setting up some new activity could even be done as part of a course, as many transferable skills will be required. The experience gained will be very beneficial.
Perhaps advertise for a dodgeball ambassador/leader to get the ball rolling. If you need any further support you can contact British Dodgeball via hello@britishdodgeball.com
Equipment
To play dodgeball safely and correctly at university in any setting you need to be using the correct equipment. Official Size 3 cloth dodgeballs are the only recommended dodgeball for universities and we have a special offer for your first order to get you started. Contact hello@britishdodgeball.com to place your first order.
Membership
British Dodgeball University membership is set at £100 for the season and can be purchased via the JustGo platform. To find out more please visit our membership page. Becoming a member university of British Dodgeball provides us with the opportunity to better understand your needs for dodgeball at your university and how we can further support you.
Resources
The following resources have been designed in order to support you to get started and introduce dodgeball within your university.
Promotion
We want to support you to develop your sessions and grow participation in dodgeball at your university so please feel free to get in touch via hello@britishdodgeball.com to share your story.
Coach Education
Completing any of our introductory workshops or coaching certificates will provide students with new skills, confidence and experience that will support future employment.
Students on a coaching course at university can benefit from completing our half day Level 1, online Level 1 or full day Level 2 British Dodgeball Coaching course in order to gain the necessary certificates to deliver dodgeball as part of their course. Students can build up their hours of coaching experience by delivering dodgeball in their local area at a club, at the university or even within the local school network.
Referee Training
British Dodgeball is actively recruiting new referees from both within and outside the dodgeball community. We are recruiting referees across all areas of the UK to support the ever growing demand for dodgeball events at all age groups.
As part of our commitment to developing university dodgeball, we provide free access for 2 individuals from each institution annually to Introduction to Officiating Dodgeball online course & face to face training.
We provide a competitive pathway for university dodgeball teams that enables the sport to grow and welcome new universities and new players each season.
For further enquiries please contact hello@britishdodgeball.com
Below provides details of the different university opens and leagues we offer. For details on the full rules and regulations at our events please visit the Rules page.
Freshers
The Freshers Open is held at the beginning of the University Dodgeball Season and is a great opportunity for new players to experience competitive university dodgeball for the first time. We often find that university dodgeball clubs benefit from more experienced players supporting their new club players at this event. Only players in their first year of dodgeball can participate in the University Freshers Open. During the 2020/21 season we hope to be able to host a Freshers Open in the Spring.
Regional Opens
Throughout a normal season we will host a range of Open Competitions in England, Scotland and Wales for university dodgeball clubs to enter. These events will facilitate a combination of either men’s, women’s or mixed categories. The university opens are a great opportunity to play competitive dodgeball against universities from all over the UK.
BUCS Leagues
The BUCS University Dodgeball Leagues take place take place between the months of November and March each year. These include various men’s and women’s regional leagues and a men’s national league You can find more details on the BUCS Dodgeball page.
Championships
The University Championships are the oldest university dodgeball event in the UK, having first taken place in 2008. Every year they act as the culmination of the university season in April or May as we discover who is the best of the best men’s and women’s university dodgeball team.
We have affiliated university clubs at each of the locations shown on the map below.
If your university does not yet have a dodgeball club, then please check out our Club Support page for guides on how you can start a club of your own.
The HEDA scheme is our investment in the future of university dodgeball in the UK. The objective of the HEDA scheme is to empower driven ambassadors from each institution through training to ensure that dodgeball is integrated into each university’s sporting menu.
HEDA’s are individuals who want to support the sport and see dodgeball grow at all levels in their individual university. The HEDA team is made up of students who are active as both committee members and players in their institution’s university club (or working to set up a session/club with their sports officer/athletic union’s support in the case of universities new to dodgeball). There are up to two HEDA’s from each University that holds British Dodgeball education membership, with each activator acting as a key link between each institution and British Dodgeball. They will, simply put, help dodgeball to grow! This may be by providing important strategic guidance to university sports officers, students unions, athletic unions and club committees in order to support participation programmes to increase attendance, or encouraging engagement with development opportunities such as coach education and varying competitive opportunities to improve session quality, player development and team performance.
This is a voluntary role with the following benefits provided in-kind to those who act as an institution’s HEDA for one full academic year:
- Level 1 Award in Coaching Dodgeball (or £60 towards a Level 2/3 Certificate in Coaching Dodgeball course if the Level 1/2 is already held)
- HEDA University Training Day – a day in the sports hall & classroom developing knowledge of promotion, marketing, growing participation, assistant refereeing and improving session quality.
- British Dodgeball HEDA apparel (hoody/top)
- References from British Dodgeball to support future employment
We are currently taking applications for those wishing to be Higher Education Dodgeball Activators next year. We welcome applications from all universities in the UK:
Application deadline: 31st May 2024