League Policies

GENERAL

  1. Teams are co-ed, made up of a minimum of 6 players and maximum of 12 players.
  2. All players must sign a waiver, and be 19 years and over, in order to play; no exceptions.
    1. Captains must submit a roster at the beginning of the season. All players submitted on the roster must be signed by Week 3. Captains must submit roster updates (if any) to the night’s Division Director throughout the season. Any players not listed on the roster by Playoffs will not be eligible to play unless approved by the Division Director.
  3. All teams must have 2 females, if not more, on the court to start a game. If needed, a team can borrow a female from another team, but must still have 1 player from their own roster for their games to officially count.
    VDL players who identify themselves as “female” may register and play as such, regardless of physical sex characteristics or where they may be in in any transition between genders.
    We believe that everyone is free to identify, label, and define themselves as the gender identity that makes the most sense to them.
  4. Teams may borrow additional females in the regular season to a maximum of 5 players, excluding the female player from the original roster. If the team cannot field one original girl they may borrow a female player from the same night as long as they do not play in that time slot or are already subbing for another team.
  5. In playoffs, no team may be allowed to borrow any females from another team.
  6. Substitutes that are outside of the league must sign a waiver prior to playing.
  7. Teams are not allowed to borrow male players from another team in the same division/night.
  8. Male substitute players can only play for one team per night.
  9. After 2 weeks of substitution for a certain team, a male substitute player will be ineligible to substitute for another team for the season.
  10. Illegal substitutes could result in a forfeit of all games played by the illegal substitute. An illegal substitute is a player that infringes General #6-9.
  11. Only roster players are eligible for Playoffs if they have played a minimum of SIX weeks prior to Playoffs. Exceptions will be granted on a case by case basis.
  12. Any physical altercations, or serious breaches of spirit and sportsmanship will be automatically met with disciplinary actions which could result in suspensions or expulsion.*
  13. Dangerous play – any type of play that is deemed dangerous or unsafe are highly discouraged. Any type of dangerous play will be subject to verbal warnings as well as expulsion. Please see Code of Conduct for more details.

    Note: A game cannot be won with a headshot. Therefore, if there is only one player left and they are hit with a headshot, they will be called SAFE, the thrower of the ball will be out and play will resume.

    In the case that it is 1 on 1 (including showdowns), if a headshot occurs, the thrower is OUT and the person thrown at is SAFE. This will be the only time the person who received a headshot will be safe. We always want to err on the side of caution and safety towards our players.

  14. VDL has a zero tolerance policy towards drugs and alcohol. They are prohibited in all gyms and surrounding areas, and within players’ bodies (playing under the influence). Simply put, if a player or a VDL Exec can smell the substances emanating from a player, then the offender will be ejected from the premises immediately and will be subjected to further disciplinary action afterwords, including suspensions and expulsion.
  15. Usage of gym apparatuses during dodgeball play (chin-up bars, climbing walls, ropes) or performing dangerous actions and stunts (backflips off walls and the gym stage) are banned due to safety concerns.
  16. Captains’ handshake: to build trust, goodwill and a better sense of community, captains are to meet with each other at the beginning of the night, before any games are played, and take a minute to introduce themselves, shake hands, and wish each other well. This helps with any conflicts on the courts.
  17. VDL expects all players to be mature, respectful and sportsmanlike to other participants and to league organizers. In order to protect the community, we reserve the right to refuse service.
  18. If a shoe comes off a player during the course of a game, the game is immediately stopped and acts as a normal referee stoppage. Once the shoe has been put back on, the game will restart with all players back against the wall according to the League Rules.
  19. Head Injury: If a player experiences an action that results in a head injury, per basic concussion symptoms, that player will sit out the remainder of the evening. For said player to be approved to continue playing after the night of the injury, a doctor’s note sent to the Insurance Manager (gtang@vdldodgeball.ca) will be required.
  20. *NEW* Default (No Show) Teams who do not show up with no notice will be charged a default fine of $50. Teams who default will not be scheduled to play until the fee has been paid by their next scheduled date. Teams will not be charged if the night’s Division Director is notified at least 24 hours in advance.

* – In order to protect league players, VDL reserves the right to give official warnings and suspensions on any of the above violations, and may ask the instigator to leave the court or premise immediately if the violation is severe. Three official warnings, or a single severe violation will lead to a ban from the league for the rest of the season including playoffs.
** – This rule is only for rare and extenuating circumstances (e.g. permitting a team to play with only 1 female on the court or 1 female substitute player at Playoffs due to unexpected injury or absence). Both captains must agree on any changes of the rules and policies. In addition, pressuring another captain to change the rules and policies against his/her will is unsportsmanlike.

TIERING & SCHEDULING

  1. There will be up to four tiers per division/night: Tier A, Tier B, Tier C, and Tier D. Re-tiers will occur twice throughout the season to reflect skill level.
  2. The first re-tier moves roughly 5-6 teams up and down, the second re-tier moves roughly 2-4 teams up and down; there is no set number.
  3. Teams will be moved according to the Division Director who will take the following into account: scores, spirit ratings, spirit ballot comments, players’ skill level, the relative competitiveness of the tier, and feedback from League Scheduler and execs of the night.
  4. Team schedules (opponents, time slots, and gym locations) are random and will vary on any given week depending on various factors. We will make it as fair as possible and try to accommodate special requests, but there are no guarantees.
  5. More information about tiering can be found here.

PLAYOFFS AND SPIRIT

  1. To place greater emphasis on fun and good spirit, VDL ensures that ALL teams make the Playoffs.
  2. Playoffs will place teams in 6 tiers of 8 teams playoff structure;.
  3. A points system where a win in Tier A = 8 points; Tier B = 4 points; Tier C = 2 points; and Tier D = 1 point will be tabulated via the regular season standings. This points system will determine final Playoff seeding in the respective tiers (Tiers 1-6), making every week in the regular season competitive.
  4. Playoffs are a double knockout tournament.
  5. After teams are placed in their final playoff tiers, a team’s spirit points are multiplied by 3 and then added as wins so higher spirited teams have a chance for better playoff seeding.
  6. Teams that do not fill out a spirit ballot at the end of a night will forfeit their input for other teams’ spirit scores for that night. All other teams receive a 5 from said team by default. The team itself will receive a score of zero from the other teams. Any team that does not show and does not give notice to the Division Director of the night will receive a 0 for spirit.
  7. Spirit scores that do not have a good justification for a score under 2 will be ignored.
  8. Spirit scores for the other teams affected in scenarios 5 and 6 will be averaged based on the other submitted scores.