British Dodgeball is a non-profit National Governing Body of Sport. Formed in 2017 we invest all income generated via our membership, events, coach education and sales into the growth of dodgeball across the United Kingdom.
British Dodgeball receives no government or other external funding to facilitate our commitment to growing the game. Our focus is on building a sustainable platform for the sport to thrive for now and the future. Our key focus is on the development of clubs and creating opportunities for more participation in dodgeball for adults, juniors, university students, schools and colleges. It is our belief that British Dodgeball has the most comprehensive grass roots development program for dodgeball in the world.
British Dodgeball is led by a management team that consists of a Managing Director, 3 full time development managers, a Director of National Teams and Player representatives. See below to find out more about our management team structure.
British Dodgeball is also committed to growing the game by investing in full time regional development officers. The first of whom started in September 2022 in the South West of England. It is our objective to recruit development officers across all regions of the United Kingdom within the coming years.
British Dodgeball is led by a Management Team that consists of our 3 Senior Managers our Managing Director as well as our Company Directors.
The staff members (3 Managers and Managing Director) meet on a monthly basis, and on a quarterly basis the Management Team is joined by the Company Directors and this forms our quarterly board meetings. The British Dodgeball AGM is held in October each year.
We are currently in the process of recruiting a Chairperson. Other relevant positions will be recruited for also in the near future.
Coach Development Manager
Aden Woodall
Aden has been with British Dodgeball since 2018 and now works on a full time basis managing our coach education programme, referee development programme and club support. Aden’s experience as a former educator, current coach and club lead is at the forefront of his role.
Dodgeball Highlights – “As chair of Manchester Bees Dodgeball Club for the past 9 years, I have overseen the growth of the clubs membership from 20 players to 100+ players. On the court I was part of the England mixed team that won World Cups in 2016 & 2018”.
Youth Development Manager
Alice Bowler
As Youth Development Manager at British Dodgeball Alice leads on our focus area of growing the junior game. As well as supporting both new and existing junior clubs Alice develops resources and events for the community as well as schools and colleges. Alice also leads on our College leadership programme that goes hand in had with our national schools championships.
Dodgeball Highlights – “My proudest achievement in dodgeball is developing the primary schools championships from the first finals in 2019 that involved 26 teams through to the current season that will have an estimated 250+ teams. It is very rewarding to know that the work I do provides opportunities for so many children to be active”.
Managing Director
Ben Hoyle
Ben has been involved in dodgeball from 2005 and since its inception as a sport in 2008, he has played a key role in the growth of dodgeball in the UK. His current role as Managing Director involves managing the operational side of British Dodgeball, including; memberships, finances, employees, sales and overseeing the strategy and vision of the organisation. Ben also plays a large part in supporting our Competition and Youth Development Managers with their roles.
Dodgeball Highlights – “In 2007 I was fortunate enough to be a part of the first ever National Championship winning dodgeball team at Leeds Met. 15 years later in 2022 as a proud father I coached the Eden Dodgeball Under 11’s team to the National title, a team that involved both my son and daughter”.
Competitions Manager
Gareth Lewis
Gareth has been an employee at British Dodgeball since the organisation was formed in 2017 and has managed the Adult & University leagues and events throughout that time. This includes all national, regional and mixed leagues, opens and University events. Gareth also liaises with BUCS to ensure the successful delivery of our BUCS university dodgeball leagues.
Dodgeball Highlights – “Playing a part in the set up of British Dodgeball with Ben in 2017 was a really exciting time. To take that leap and set up something that has been a huge success on all levels and for me especially the National Leagues at St George’s Park has been a real highlight. It has also been such an achievement to see how well the organisation and the sport has recovered since the pandemic and how we continue to go from strength to strength”.
Director of National Teams
Johnathan Rudland
johnathan@britishdodgeball.com
Johnathan oversees and supports the 4 home nations and GB international management teams. Johnathan also represents British Dodgeball at both the EDF and WDBF congress. Johnathan works in a part time capacity, only 1 day per month, for British Dodgeball.
Media & Marketing
Matthew Drohan
Matthew leads on British Dodgeball’s marketing strategy and implementation, content capture and social media channels. His role is to promote British Dodgeball’s key products and services alongside telling the story of the game and its brilliant community in order to raise the profile of the sport.
Regional Development Officer – South West England
James Robinson
As a Regional Development Officer James key role is to grow the game via; club development, event delivery, coach education and training, supporting the growth of the game in schools, colleges and universities, working with key partners and sourcing funding in the counties of Berkshire, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Hampshire and the IOW, Oxfordshire and Somerset and Wiltshire. As part of his role, James also leads on the delivery of our Secondary Schools Championships.
Dodgeball Highlights – “My journey in dodgeball started at university where I helped establish our university team where in our second year we won our Athletic Unions club of the year award. Since then I have supported the start up of 4 community clubs in my local area with both adult and junior sections. I am very proud of the medal success my club has achieved at regional and national level and my hope is to coach the future international stars of dodgeball”.
The technical committee act in accordance of the Technical Committee Terms of Reference to develop inclusive rulesets, manage disciplinary issues and more. You can reach the technical committee with any suggestions or queries by emailing hello@britishdodgeball.com.
The 23/24 Season British Dodgeball Technical Committee is made up of the following individuals:
4 Management Committee members:
- Ben Hoyle
- Gareth Lewis
- Aden Woodall
- Alice Bowler
5 member representatives:
- Jessica Goshawk-Dumbrell
- Alex Bembridge
- Alex Nelson
- Jordan Willis
- Sam Ward
Our media team is a group of passionate volunteered managed by our Marketing & Media Officer, Matthew. Our media team helps to tell the story of dodgeball in the UK by taking photos and videos at our events, and helping to run our Live Streams.
We are currently recruiting volunteers to this team – you can find more information here.
Our sport would simply not happen without our Referee Team. Our referees are managed and trained by Aden Woodall, allocated to matches by Gareth Lewis and Alice Bowler, and supported by Referee Mentors in each region. Dodgeball is quite unique in that we require members to act as assistant referees when allocated at fixtures, and each club has a nominated Club Referee Lead who is responsible for the training of all club members so they can fulfil this task.
Visit our Refereeing webpage for more information on how the sport is officiated.
Our active referees are:
| Adam Badley | North West |
| Adam English | South East |
| Alex Bembridge | North West |
| Alex Nelson | Midlands |
| Alex O’Hare | Scotland |
| Alex Such | Midlands |
| Alix Lancaster | South West |
| Anisha Khan | South West |
| Arron Davies | South East |
| Becky Harper | Midlands |
| Benjy Millward | North East |
| Cesca Mcarthy | North West |
| Connor McMullan | N Ireland |
| Danny Carroll | Scotland |
| Dave Prestage | East Midlands |
| Dom Smith | Midlands |
| Ed Hollands | Midlands |
| Elliot Webb | South East |
| Emily Walker | North West |
| Faizan Haider | South East |
| Felix Davis | North West |
| Frank Howarth | South West |
| Gareth Lewis | Midlands |
| Georgia Peters | N Ireland |
| Hannah Dyer | Midlands |
| Hannah Ward | North West |
| Issy Gilks | Midlands |
| Jackson Sparks | Midlands |
| James Browne | South East |
| James Fowler | South East |
| James King-Nickol | Scotland |
| James Mcullom | Midlands |
| James Owen | South East |
| James Radford | South West |
| James Robinson | South West |
| James Wagstaff | North East |
| Jen Allam | Midlands |
| Jessica Hollyhurst | N Ireland |
| Joe Lawn | South West |
| Jonty Bird | North West |
| Jordan Taylor | Midlands |
| Josh Keys | South West |
| Kathryn Thomas | Midlands |
| Katie Howard | South East |
| Keir Liddle | Scotland |
| Kelvin Lee | N Ireland |
| Kirstie Kee | N Ireland |
| Kirstly Lunn | Midlands |
| Lottie Millington | Midlands |
| Maddy Smith | Midlands |
| Mark Prentice | Scotland |
| Matous Beeldman | South East |
| Matty Short | North East |
| Mcauley Downes | Midlands |
| Megan McGowan | North East |
| Mike Wroe | South West |
| Milan Patel | North West |
| Natalie Kay | Midlands |
| Natasha Lee | North West |
| Nicholas Bull | North East |
| Nicki Luney | N Ireland |
| Oma Ubredi | South East |
| Rachael Potter | South East |
| Rachel Lowson | Midlands |
| Richard Watson | North East |
| Robson Newton | MIdlands |
| Ryan Ellis | Midlands |
| Sam Anderson | South East |
| Sam Mason | South East |
| Sam Richards | Midlands |
| Sam Walton | Midlands |
| Sam Ward | Midlands |
| Sam Wharvell | Midlands |
| Scott Esnouf | South West |
| Shannen Smyth | N Ireland |
| Shaun Grainger | Midlands |
| Simon Parsons | South East |
| Tara Hollands | Midlands |