2022 has officially come to an end, and with it, another 365 days of dodgeball have passed. Whilst we still have plenty to look forward to this season, we wanted to take a quick look back at 2022, what dodgeball has accomplished and how the sport continues to grow.

In June, since our Return to Play from the Covid-19 pandemic, the first regular season of dodgeball was completed and came to an end with the Adult & Junior British Championships. Adult Dodgeball saw a further growth over the summer of 2022, with the English National Men’s League 4 being successfully formed and the Scottish National League having the most participants ever for the 22/23 season! (Read more about the growth of National League dodgeball in our previous Newsletter).

University Dodgeball became a BUCS Sport and the first ever BUCS Finals Day was livestreamed to thousands of people on our YouTube channel. We celebrated the end of the University season with The University Championships. An event in which 33 teams from 14 universities competed to crown the British Dodgeball University Champions at St. George’s Park. Over 88 fixtures were played in what was a day to remember! Watch the video of the event below!

The British Dodgeball University Championships 2022 | A Day To Remember

 

International Dodgeball returned in July as our 4 Home Nations travelled to the Netherlands to compete in the 2022 European Championships where NI Knights were crowned Men’s & Mixed Champions! Then in August, the World Championships took place in Canada, which saw the largest GB Squad ever compete in 6 categories, with the Men’s Cloth team being crowned World Champions! GB Dodgeball cemented their place within international dodgeball and we cannot wait for the 2023 European Championships this October.

Junior & School dodgeball is at the largest scale it has ever been! Dodgeball is the 6th most popular sport in schools and already in the 22/23 season, 10 Primary School Championships have taken place with 73 schools having competed (670 children). From these events, we have trained 140 Young Leaders, who were able to aid the running of events and officiate matches. The #GetIntoCoaching Area of Focus has expanded on this greatly; our online courses have educated over 8,000 students and we successfully launched two Level-3 Coaching Courses.

ComeJoinIn Funding Award!

From the scale of the Schools Championships, to the countless new University Clubs competing in BUCS this season and the thousands of people becoming coaching qualified across the UK, dodgeball is growing at an ever rapid pace and we can’t wait to see what happens next. As dodgeball continues to grow, we look forward to expanding our leagues, our team and our community even further. 2023 is here and another phenomenal year of dodgeball lies ahead of us. (Read more below)

 

Dodgeball Resolutions!

When a new year begins, many people around the world partake in the tradition of New YearsResolutions; here at BD, we think this tradition should also be applied to dodgeball. Whether you are an aspiring coach or an eager-to-improve player, setting a dodgeball resolution is a great way to make the most out of this season!

You can #GetIntoCoaching with our Dodgeball Explained series of videos on our YouTube channel and take your next steps on your coaching journey by taking one of our many online or Level 2 face-to-face coaching courses.

As a player you can set a simple aim of improving your throwing technique or pushing to make the first team in your club. Whatever your goal is, use it as your motivation to develop yourself on and off the court, to be the best dodgeballer you can be.

But it shouldn’t just be up to you, our members, to be setting new goals for 2023, we too will be aiming to improve ourselves and deliver the most up to date and best dodgeball experiences we can! Keep your eyes peeled as we share resources and videos throughout the year!

 

Coming up in 2023!

2022 was a great year for dodgeball, but 2023 is set to be EVEN GREATER!

First up, Junior/School Dodgeball: ~40 Primary/Secondary Schools Championships events are set to take place in the remainder of this season! You can sign your school up to the countless regional and county events taking place around the country. Our Junior Leagues return for the Spr/Sum series, including the Scottish Junior League, which has record numbers of teams entered across 2 age groups!

Come Join In Festivals: Our BRAND NEW events for 2023 have been designed to provide new dodgeball clubs with the opportunity to take part in competitive match play against other clubs within their region. The CJI Festivals will be FREE to enter as we utilise our Come Join In funding streams to target this exciting new project. There are 3 festivals coming up: North East – 14th January, South East – 4th February & North West – 4th February. More events to follow across the UK!

Adult Dodgeball & University Dodgeball: The English & NI National Leagues are restarting this weekend with the Scottish National League following suit later this month – you can catch our coverage of the English National Leagues when we Livestream on our YouTube Channel (Subscribe & turn on notifications). We also cannot wait for the British Championships, a huge weekend of Junior & Adult Dodgeball is set to take place on June 10th/11th, a highlight of the greatest levels of dodgeball within the UK!

University Dodgeball will continue its biggest season yet in its second year as a BUCS Sport, with huge events of the BUCS Finals Day (March 25th) & University Championships (April 8th) just months away! More Universities than ever are competing this year and even more are set to sign-up for next season in September!

But we have more than just tonnes of exciting events taking place this year, we have countless coaching courses and numerous Club Support Webinars, all of which are aimed at developing the sport we love and the members within it’s community.

 

The Dodgeball Zone

We are recruiting Referee Mentors around the UK, apply now!

Help us improve the standard of refereeing at our events by completing our Referee Feedback Form. This will be available to all teams to complete after any event & we encourage everyone to give as much feedback as possible so we can provide tailored support to our referees.

The Dodgeball Survey 2023 – Help us drive forward the development of our sport.

Junior League 2023 – Expressions of Interest. Fill out this short form.

School Competitions are well underway and we are always eager to have members of dodgeball clubs volunteer at these events to help promote & develop your club. Email alice@britishdodgeball.com for more information.

 

Got something you want to shout out to the dodgeball community in the next newsletter? Let us know by dropping us an email at hello@britishdodgeball.com.