It gives me indescribable pleasure to announce that VDL is gearing up and ready to deliver another fantastic season of dodging, big hits, clutch catches, and the shortest, tightest shorts to be worn by adult males.

4 BIG things to keep in mind before the season starts!

1) As we’re preparing for the big kick off, please have your waiver signed! Our waiver is no joke! It insures you if you somehow get injured in play (which we HAVE seen happen!) and provides you peace of mind.

https://vdldodgeball.wufoo.eu/forms/vdl-season-13-waivers/

“But I already have my own insurance, VDL!”

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson once told me, “It doesn’t matter if you have your own insurance! You still have to sign the waiver to play in VDL!”

True story. Needless to say, I signed my waiver right away. Not to mention that the waiver is your VDL time stamp to prove that you exist! What does that mean? Remember how we have a minimum-play policy – where if you don’t play at least 4 weeks you don’t qualify for Playoffs? Well, if you don’t sign a waiver, you don’t exist to us, and even if you’ve been showing up every week you are not allowed to participate in Playoffs!

2) Please take a refresher and do a little light reading of our VDL Rules, League Policy, Player Code of Conduct, and Officiating Guidelines. All these fun reads are an integral part to keeping the league running smoothly and peacefully for all to enjoy! It’s not fun to get called out of a game and not know why. It’s even worse to get kicked out of a gym and not know why, so take this chance to get a little VDL education!

3) Get your teammates together and choose a Dodgeball 101/Vet’s Night session that’s coming up soon! Exhibition week will run from Monday January 30th to Thursday February 2nd. Please register 48hrs in advance of the date you’re attending as spots fill up quickly!

DB101 will be a friendly and welcoming orientation into VDL. You and your teammates will learn rules, policies, code of conduct, as well as a few pointers to get you guys going when you play some practice games!

Vets’ Night will be for all returning players from any season before S13! You guys know the drill, so choose a session and let’s see who has been indulging too much over the holidays!

DB101 Registration

Vets’ Night Registration

4) Make sure to review your team information for this season and notify us of any team name, captains information or tier changes here by January 29th at the latest!

NEW THIS SEASON: Please note that if you do not have your waiver signed prior to entering the gym during Exhibition Week, you will be prohibited from participating in the dodgeball action.

https://vdldodgeball.wufoo.eu/forms/vdl-season-13-waivers/

That’s it for now folks! See you all very soon! Feel free to leave your questions or concerns in the comment section and we’ll try to provide a reply right away!

Vancouver’s first, largest and only non-profit player driven dodgeball league is proud to announce Season 13 details. For the Spring season, you can expect a community of over 170 teams and 1,200+ players, high quality play at all skill levels, epic playoff matches and of course loads of fun! Play dodgeball, stay active, meet new friends, be part of a great community, and get ready for good times!

INFORMATION

League Details:
- Season 13 begins in January and ends in May
- League fees include at least 12 weeks of play, including: 10 weeks of regular season; 1 exhibition week for vets and rookies, and 1 playoff weekend
- Each session lasts 90 minutes
- Tiered play, based on skill level
- Each team plays 3-4 different teams and 15-16 games per night, depending on division
- Plus legendary VDL Pub Night and Skill Clinics to get better!
- Prizes for Best Dressed team, Most Spirited team, Best Cheer and all Tier Champions
- Co-ed teams of 6-12 players; 2 females must be playing on the court at all times
- All players must be 19 years and over (please see League Policies)

Cost: $500 early bird, plus taxes; $550 regular, plus taxes

Timelines:
December 13th – January 6th: Open registration to the Public (Early Bird)
January 6th:  Payment deadline for returning teams who have put down a deposit**
January 7th – January 15th: Open registration (Regular)
January 15th : Registration deadline

When:
- Monday Nights; January 30 – May 7; 7:00-8:30PM or 8:30-10:00PM
- Tuesday Nights; January 31 – April 24; 7:00-8:30PM or 8:30-10:00PM
- Wednesday Nights; February 1 – April 25; 8:00PM – 10:00PM
- Thursday Nights; February 2 – May 10; 7:00-8:30PM or 8:30-10:00PM

*Please note, teams on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday Nights can expect to play in both the 7:00pm slot and the 8:30pm slot throughout the season. A team’s game time slot and gym location will vary on any given week depending on their current tier and gym availability. We will make it as fair as possible, but cannot accommodate requests for one specific time slot and location throughout the season.

Gym closures:
-Mondays: February 6, March 12 & 19 (Spring Break), April 9 (Easter Monday)
-Tuesdays: March 13 & 20 (Spring Break)
-Wednesdays: March 14 & 21 (Spring Break)
-Thursdays: March 15 & 22 (Spring Break)

Where:
- VSB gyms across Vancouver

Playoff Dates
TBA

How to Register:
Registration for Season 13 is now closed.

Questions or comments? Please email us at register (at) vdldodgeball.ca. We look forward to hearing from you!

__

**For teams with deposits: please clear the rest of your balance here. The payment deadline is January 6th, 2012; unpaid balances after this date will result in forfeiting your team’s deposit and reservation.

When: 7pm Saturday, November 12, 2011
Where: Shark Club – 180 West Georgia Street (map)

Get funky body art done by graffiti artists we’re bringing in! Snap pictures of your newly decorated shirt (or skin) in the snazzy photobooth…complete with props! Win great prizes, maybe even a Canucks jersey or two, with our raffle draw! And as always, beer, DJ, music, mingling, and fun with your favourite fellow dodgeballers! It’ll be a party you won’t find on the streets!

Tickets are $10 and include your admission, t-shirt, fabric marker, and beer. They will be available for purchase at the gyms from execs or online here:

We’re all sold out!

There will be a special $10 burger deal offered to VDL players, which you can purchase directly on the night of at Shark Club. (Please note that this is optional and not included in your admission ticket.)

So leave the spray paint at home, and marker* it up VDL-style! See you all at the most epic party in Vancouver on Nov. 12th!

Disclaimer
*We’ll be using fabric markers at the event. There is always the chance of having the ink seep through the fabric onto skin/clothing, so do dress accordingly!

Come find out how you compare with other players at VDL’s Extravaganza! A free event for all S12 VDL players! We’re setting up a skills competition, where you can compete for the titles of Hardest Thrower, Showdown Champion, Best Catcher, Best Dodger, and Most Accurate Thrower! MASSIVE games will follow the skills competition where we revisit past classics such as Fireball, The Royal Rumble, and more!

When: Saturday, November 5th, 2011 1:30-4:30pm
Where: David Thompson Secondary – 1755 E.55th Ave, Vancouver (link to map)

Not only do you get bragging rights, but there’ll be prizes for the winners in each category! Come out and test your skills, cheer your teammates on, or just show up for a good time! Raffle tickets will be sold for a chance to win movie tickets, VDL swag, and even a Canucks Jersey!

Will YOU be the next VDL Superstar?!

Would you like to develop super dodgeball powers? Do you want to be the superhero with the thunderous catches, lightning fast throws, and monstrous blocks?

VDL is proud to present Season 12 Skills Clinic – The Basics. Sign up now before it’s sold out! Mark the dates in your calendars, smartphone, and the ever popular sundial, because you wouldn’t want to miss out on this event!

Our team of expert (Tier 1) trainers will help you develop skills and strategies that would put even The Avengers to shame. You will learn proper throwing, catching, and blocking techniques, individual and team strategies, and even get time to perfect your new dodgeball powers.

Remember, with great dodgeball powers comes great victories! Don’t delay, sign up today to be a part of the heroic movement!

What: Skills Clinic 101

Where: North Burnaby Boys and Girls Club

516 South Howard Avenue, Burnaby, BC V5B 3R1

When: Oct 15th 12:30pm-3:30pm
Oct 22nd 12:30pm-3:30pm

Who: Any Season 12 VDL player
Capacity: 35 players/clinic
Cost: $8/person (At the door, cash only)

How to join:
https://vdldodgeball.wufoo.eu/forms/vdl-s12-skills-clinic-the-basics-october-15th/

https://vdldodgeball.wufoo.eu/forms/vdl-s12-skills-clinic-the-basics-october-22nd/

*********Skills clinics have sold out quickly in the past, so don’t delay and sign up today.*********

Are you motivated when it comes to dealing with dodgeball? Do you have a crush on one of our current execs?! Do you want to make an impact in our dodgeball community? Do you have a skill/talent that you think will benefit VDL? Do you believe in fun, teamwork, and self-development? Do you support VDL’s vision? If you answered YES to any of the questions above or even any questions not listed, we want you!

Not only is volunteering with VDL fun, but there are lots of benefits that our execs receive for all their dedicated hard work. They include:

• Lots of team building activities
• Getting to know other execs and working with new people to contribute to the community
• Strengthening your leadership, professional and organizational skills
• Work on other community projects (pub night; community service initiatives, etc.)
• Having fun!
• Free League play, swag and food
• Basically, the idea is that you give and get in return when you volunteer at VDL.

We are seeking good people to fill these following positions in specific:

League Ops Dept.: League Coordinators on ALL nights; extra star if you are in tier 2 or 3!
IT Dept.: WordPress Junkie that loves HTML, CSS, PHP, Java
MarCom Dept.: Copywriters and Journalists / MarCom Director

If any of the positions interest you, we encourage you to fill the link below before Friday, June 17, 2011. If you want to find out more information about each department, you can also visit our  Department pages.

We can’t wait to hear from you!

Apply Now!

The nominations are open to the community, so all current VDL players are eligible to submit your choices for Best Dressed and Best Cheer for each night you play. We will reveal the top three nominations and you will get to vote for the winner (for their respective division) at Playoffs! To help you select, please see our team photo gallery.

Some things to keep in mind when nominating:

- Did it “wow” you?
- Did it make you smile/laugh every time you saw their uniform? Or heard their cheer?
- Did they make you think: “That’s brilliant! Why didn’t I think of that?”
- There’s no shame in nominating your own team either!

About the awards:

Best Dressed: This goes to the team with the most creative uniforms/costumes, where they stand out at their gyms and everyone easily identifies them. The players are consistently dedicated to wearing their outfits week in and week out.

Best Cheer: Our new award! This goes to the team with the best…
- volume
- creativity
- complexity
- crowd appeal
- synchronization among teammates

Deadlines:
- Tuesday and Wednesday Nights – Thursday, April 28th
- Monday and Thursday Nights – Thursday, May 12th

So make your voice heard and submit your nominations now!

Here are some noteworthy things to soak in for Playoffs!

Tiering
As you already know, we’re trying out a new format for Playoffs this season! We’re making changes to bring the skill gap closer together by having smaller tiers during Playoffs.

During the regular season teams will be receiving points based on their wins from whichever tier they come from. We’ve tweaked the initial point system plan, and the finalized system is:

Tier 1 win – 4pts.
Tier 2 win – 2pts.
Tier 3 win – 1pts.

The point system was created to accurately gauge a team’s skill level and place them in the appropriate tier for Playoffs. We don’t want to see a team in a tier below their skill level, nor do we want to see a team in a tier above their skill level.

Spirit
Spirit Points will be taken into account after teams are seeded into their tiers. Spirit points will help teams move up/down within their tier in the Playoff seeding.

Seeding
Teams will be seeded according to their regular season standings. For example, if you finish 9th in Tier 1, after Spirit and points have been taken into account, you will be in Tier 2 at the Playoffs.

Regular Season: Tier 1, 2, 3
Playoffs Tiering:  Tier 1, 2, 3  4, 5, 6 (Tiers 1-4 for Wednesdays)

You can think of it as having every tier split in half. The skill gap between the top and bottom of a tier has been incredibly one-sided in previous seasons, so this is our new system to prevent blowout games.

Courts & Refs
With the new tiering system, every court will be its own tier! No more running around to different courts and losing your feel of the court! Every court will have at least 1 Exec ref that is well versed with the Official VDL Rules. The Exec ref is there to make sure calls are in line with the rules. However, the onus continues to be on peer refs to take control and make sure that the game’s integrity is played to its utmost for glorious VDL Playoff dodgeball!

Etiquette
We all know that the intensity and the beauty of dodgeball blooms at Playoffs. This does not mean that sportsmanship and honour goes out the window. Please conduct yourself in an honourable manner, as well as keeping your teammates in check. Don’t do anything you wouldn’t show to your family!

Lockers
For Playoffs, definitely bring a lock as there will be 3x as many players in the gym at once! Keep your stuff from being misplaced or mistaken as someone else’s by bringing a lock and using the lockers.

Food
Think you’ll need a quick bite at Playoffs? Not fond of soggy ziplock lunches? Can’t even make lunch?

Bring moolah..

Re-Up BBQ will be serving hot eats for all the hungry dodgers and spectators! Infamous for their addictive Pulled Pork Sandwiches, vegetarian chili, and they’ll be hitting VDL Playoffs with a new Brisket Sandwich for all to try! This definitely merits invites to the ol’ Facebook friends list to attend S11’s VDL Playoffs!

Swag
No questions necessary. You know you’ve been dying to get your hands on an official VDL T-shirt!

Even MORE colours at the Swag Booth @ Playoffs!

Bring money.

You’ll finally get your chance to get every colour you ever wanted, in just about any size you want it in! Great early Christmas gifts!

Awards
It’s a bittersweet situation with the awards right now. It has been a 7 week battle to get the new awards ready for S11, but alas we are unable to have them ready by Playoffs. Main reason being is that we’re not satisfied with the quality of the awards, and that it takes 12 weeks of production time (not including time for designing the darn things!). Quality is a do or die thing with VDL. We rather not sacrifice anything for quality!

Feast your eyes on the temporary award structure for S11! (S12 will mark the debut of VDL’s new award structure, so be sure to register for S12 as soon as registration opens!)

-Hootie the Spirit Owl – Team with highest Spirit Rating after regular season
-Best Dressed – Team that is recognized and sought after for their impeccable taste in dodgeball fashion on court.*
-Best Cheer – Team with the cheer that everyone remembers, and may even know the words (sounds) to!**
-The prestigious VDL Belt for Tier 1
-VDL Medals for Tier 1 + 2 + 3; Competitive (Tier 1 + 2 for Wednesday);
-VDL Certificate and a $50 gift card/certificate for Tier 4 + 5 + 6; Recreational (Tier 3 + 4 for Wednesday).
-All tier winners get VDL t-shirts
-VDL will no longer be awarding registration deposits for the following season.

* & ** Voting will commence on the final week of the regular season via email from your Division Directors.

That’s it for now folks! If you have questions, be sure to ask during announcements at the gyms!

Till next time,
Pete

Our seasonal Pub Night is always a highly anticipated event and this season will be no different. Staying true to VDL tradition, we will be providing some great deals, including a pizza & beer special for $15 (all you can eat pizza and one beer!), which players can purchase at the door. This is our way of giving back to our players and showing them our appreciation for their continuous support.

On top of that, Pub Night will be held on the last regular season game for the Canucks so come cheer them on! There will also be a Live DJ pumping out 80s & 90s music and raffle draws so everyone can try their luck at winning some amazing prizes, including VDL SWAG and a classic Canucks skate jersey!

So come on out and party with your fellow dodgeballers! We hope to see you all there!

Location: Boston Pizza @ Grandview Hwy – 2850 Bentall Street, Vancouver, BC V5M 4H4 (map)

VDL strongly discourages drinking & driving. Please be safe, take transit or carpool with a designated driver!

Date: Saturday, April 9th

Time: 6:30pm – close

Admission: Free

Cost: $15/ticket at the door *this will include all you can eat pizza and one beer*

Dresscode: Retro theme

Note: Boston Pizza has a limited capacity of 225 people. Therefore we regrettably must limit this event to current VDL players only. As well, there will be no in & out privileges.