User:Dboy820/Western Springs Dodgeball

Western Springs Dodgeball is dodgeball league that plays out of Western Springs, IL. WSDB was formed by James Osterhout in 2000. WSDB plays at the Western Springs Rec Center every Friday night at 8:30p.m.. WSDB has had a team place first in Men's "A"/Elite division since 2001. WSDB has also won the Bexley Tournament and has sent teams to the National Dodgeball League yearly tournament.

Types of Play
WSDB plays many various forms of dodgeball. The standard for of dodgeball consists of two teams playing on a volleyball size court with the center line seperating the teams. Balls are lined up on the center line and the and the teams run for the balls at the beginning. A player is out when they are struck with a ball or they throw a ball, they throw a ball that is caught by the opposing team or they step out of bounds. These are also known as "tournament" rules as these are the rules played in most tournaments.

WSDB standard rules are very similar to standard rules, but a few twists are incorporated. WSDB plays on a court that is about half the size of a standard gymnasium. There are no sidelines or backlines. The only restrictive line is the center line. A catch, which would normally have the player who threw the ball go out, brings a player in from the team who caught the ball. The thrower does not go out, unless there is no one on the opposing team to come in. So, whenever there is a catch a player is either coming in or going out. Players come in to the game in the order that they went out.

Four Corners is a game played in which it requires 4 teams to play. The gym is divided into 4 parts with each team defending a corner of the gym. Balls are lined up down either center line, and teams run for the balls at the begining of the game. An option to play with neutral zones is also recomended for this. Neutral zones are areas on the court where any team can occupy that area of the court. These areas are usually near the center line and span roughly 5 yards on each side of the center line. As players get out and teams are eliminated the corner of the court that they an eliminated team occupied is now a neutral zone and any team can enter that area of the court.

Free for All a.k.a. Last Man Standing is a free for all game where there are no teams and all players are on their own. The game starts with 2 balls or however many balls are decided upon. The balls are either tossed up and players hustle for the balls. Players are eliminated by being struck with a ball or throwing a catch. Players are restricted to how many steps they can take with a ball. Depending on the amount of players, balls in play and size of the court, steps are determined. Example if it is a standard gymnasium court with 25 players and 2 balls you would start with around 5 steps with the ball. After the player takes the steps they must throw the ball. They can either throw it at a player or throw it away. The amount of steps should increase as players are being eliminated, as to allow for players to get closer to fewer players. Once there are 2 players remaining the are unlimited steps.

Swedish Dodgeball is a variant of Free for All. This variant allows players to come back into the game. The begining of the game starts out the same and the step rule is still in place. Once you are out you remember the player that got you out. When that player has been struck or caught out you may reenter the game along with any other players that were eliminated by that player. ''Example if Player A gets Player B, C, D, and E out, and Player F catches Player A's ball then Players B, C, D, and E are back in. If player B then strikes player F with a ball then Player A can reenter the game.'' This style of dodgeball can lead to very long and intense games as all players can get out multiple times.

Another new game of dodegeball is Cattle Drive. This style consists of two teams playing on a full gym court. The standard center line runs the down the middle of the court. A neutral zone is put into place that borders the entire court. This allows players of either team to be able to run the border of the entire court. Teams still have designated playing space, but can be attacked from all angles. It is recomended to play with pinnies or jerseys to help distinguish teams. Players are eliminated in the standard way by either being struck with the ball or throwing a catch. A variant that can be implemented to aid if you do not have a way to distinguish teams is to impose friendly fire. Friendly Fire is where even your own team can get you out. If a player's own teammate strikes them with a ball then they are out. The name "Cattle Drive" comes from the way you try and corral players into a corner by splitting your team in two and running teams up both sides of the neutral zone cornering the opposing team. Drive dem Cattle!

Balls
Many types of balls are played with in dodgeball. WSDB uses 8.25" rubber coated foam balls. Usually playing with 6 per game or 8 for larger team games. WSDB originally played with rubber playground balls, but with the increase in injury risk and WSDB accomadating the play of Women and children foam balls were introduced.  Foam balls offer many advantages to play. The allow players of all age to play and accomadate many styles of play. Foam balls have the ability to curve and have a lot more movement on them than rubber balls.  WSDB has had players clocked at throwing foam balls upwards of 70mph.

Teams
There are many WSDB teams. WSDB teams are usually formed before a tournament and returning teams do not necessarily consist of the same members each time. WSDB has had many teams over the years and the group of dodgeballers who attend has varied as well. Some of the most prominent WSDB teams are the: The Queens and Team Radd. The Queens have 5 Tournament wins with 2 of them being National Championships. The Queens have several runner up placements. Team Radd has an astounding 5 national championships making it a total of 10 tourmanent victories. Both these teams have been around since WSDB inception in 2001. These teams have since disbanded and now rarely if ever compete anymore. The Gramercy Riffs are another founding team from WSDB. The Gramercy Riffs were a very succesful team in their very short play time. They won 4 tournaments total and have 2 national championships. The Gramercy Riffs only lasted around 2 years before disbanding and forming other teams. The Kings also known as The Battle Toads won 3 straight national championships and broke up shortly after completing this feat. P2 and Company are the newest and latest WSDB team to show great success. P squared has 2 tournament wins and 3 National Championships to add to that. P Squared. has also traveled to Ohio in 2008 and competed in the Bexley Dodgeball Tournament and placed first to claim a year's worth of free Chipotle Burritos. P Squared is currently the top team at WSDB. Overall WSDB teams have claimed first place in every NADA tournament since 2001. WSDB usually sends multiple teams to compete in a tournament thus making it hard for just one team to dominate for an extended period of time. Cheese and Crackers was a WSDB team that went to the 2006 NDL Amateur Champinships and placed 2nd. Mike Mcdonald also from WSDB won the Last Man Standing tournament in Las Vagas at the NDL. The National Dodgeball League also has formed professional teams. The Chicago Vendetta is the NDL's Chicago based team. The Vendetta consist of all WSDB players. The Chicago Vendetta are the first ever National Dodgeball Professional League Champions.