Toronto Dodgeball Association

The Toronto Dodgeball Association is the host of the Toronto Dodgeball League and several dodge-ball tournaments throughout the year. Usually running 4 to 5 divisions simultaneously (competition ranging from recreational to seasoned veteran, all male as well as co-ed), this league is perfect for those of you who wish to get active, and play a sport that is no longer just limited to the elementary school grounds!

After an hour of dodge-ball, you’ll have exercised to your hearts content, and enjoyed at least a dozen exciting games with friends, inevitably leaving you wanting more. I play in this league twice a week, and find myself never wanting to leave after the final whistle.

I had the chance to have one of the Co-Founders of the league and organization, Lorne Kurtz, answer a couple questions in an effort to better paint you a picture of what makes this league a solid choice for some of your spare time.

What sets your league apart from the others that run here in the Greater Toronto Area?

• We hire two refs per game to officiate regular season, playoff and tournament games.
• We have organized on-site administration at each game who also update the website with weekly standings and up to date scheduling.
• We use six balls (four of which are 7 inches – attackers, two that are 8.25 inches – blockers).
• Our unique 1 on 1 situation where we allow bounces off the ground count to hit the opposing player; this ensures that the 1 on 1 games don’t last too long so the majority of the team can get back into playing the games
• We host a Sunday afternoon Non co-ed division where most league are strictly all co-ed.
• During your time-slot, you play against 2 different opponents for 35 minutes each, where other leagues set you up against the same opponent for 1 60 minute time-slot which can get boring.

• There is complete diversity amongst the players in our league. The majority of our divisions rank within the intermediate – experienced skill levels; however we want everyone to feel comfortable in the division they play in so we host a Monday Recreational league where we try our best to regulate which teams are allowed to enter based on their skill level and experience within Toronto Dodgeball. Also, we host a Sunday afternoon Non Co-ed division to which the games are a little faster paced and higher skilled due to the majority of teams being all experienced male players.

What percentage of players from current seasons have previously participated in your league?

• We have a high level of return from season to season (on average over 50%) but that shows that the other 50% are new active and skilled players who are ready to dodge, dive, duck, dip and dodge at the opportunity to play the sport within all of us offered divisions.

How much growth has your league experienced over the past year?

• The league has had tremendous growth over the past year. The Winter of 2008 (January), was the season time Toronto Dodgeball expanded to a weekday league. It consisted of 6 teams while our Sunday division had 12 teams (8 non co-ed and 4 co-ed). Now in the 2009 Spring season, we have 12 Sunday teams, and 18 weekday teams spread amongst our Monday, Tuesday and Thursday divisions. In 2008 we had 62 teams registered in the league (over 3 season). Currently within the 2 season we have hosted (Winter and Spring) thus far in 2009, 54 teams have played dodgeball with us. On top of our seasons, we also are planning on hosting more tournaments in 2009 which increase the team participation as we have certain teams who can only commit to playing sports every so often and they love coming out to our hosted tournaments.

If you happen to think it might even be remotely enjoyable, definitely contact Lorne or Dave on their site and get involved; I assure you, it’s a great time – I guarantee it.