UNITED KINGDOM DODGE BALL ASSOCIATION

BRITISH DODGEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP 2008

ROUND ONE GROUPS

BRITISH DODGEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP 2008

TOURNAMENT REPORT

by Daniel Calver (Staffordshire University)

Jammy Dodgers became the Dodgeball Champions 2008 by beating surprise package Leeds Met Carnegie II in the final 4-0, to add to their title of North Division Champions.

Captain Ryan Knight led by example as he put his record of fastest thrower to good use as numerous players were unable to dodge his throws. Knight and the rest of the Dodgers had clearly worked on their tactics before the tournament, playing to their strengths culminating in a three man attack of Knight, Adam King and Ali Hall.

Jammy Dodgers progressed into the final coming top of their group, which included Staffs Uni Sentinels and Snoop Dodge, of which Jammy Dodgers comfortably beat both. The Dodgers then defeated Leicester City Ligers in the semi-final 4 games to 2 to progress into the final.

Leeds Met Carnegie I, Dodgeball Champions in 2007, were outshone by their counterparts Leeds Met Carnegie II who saw off the New City Outlaws and Worcester Tigers in their group, before beating Warwick Uni Warriors 6-3 in a one minute tie breaker, having drawn 3-3 in games.

Warwick Uni Warriors were into their semi-final against Leeds Met Carnegie II through some controversy after their game against Northampton Cobras ended in a square-up of players after confusion from a referee’s call. Warriors went on to win the game though Cobras believed they had successfully taken out a Warriors player, which hadn’t been seen or given by the referees.

Having lost in the resulting semi-final, Warwick Uni Warriors lost their third place play-off to Leicester City Ligers, who, like winners Jammy Dodgers, played to their strengths and defended well with Richard Gray covering his remaining players in the game.

Ligers had seen off University Champions Balls of Steel 6-1 and a 2-2 draw with Dodge Vipers secured their place as group winners and progressed into the semi-final to play Jammy Dodgers.

Champions in 2007, Leeds Met Carnegie I finished bottom of their group which included other runners up from their divisions Warwick Uni Warriors of the University Division and Northampton Cobras of the Southern Division. Leeds did however maintain some dignity from the tournament by beating Worcester Tigers 4-0 to finish the tournament in ninth place.

Behind Leeds Met Carnegie II, Staffs Uni Sentinels were another surprise package of the tournament. Having failed to win either of their initial group games, losing to Jammy Dodgers and drawing too Snoop Dodge, Staffs Uni progressed into the 5^th place play-off through individual games won against eventual winners Jammy Dodgers and in player’s out.

Staffs Uni then beat University Champions Balls of Steel of Nottingham University 4-1, to set up a 5^th place match against the New City Outlaws, who had defeated Northampton Cobras 4-2. The giants that are New City Outlaws proved too much for Staffs Uni though as the Outlaws won 4-0.

The Overall standing of the 2008 Dodgeball Championships looked like this:

• 1. Jammy Dodgers
• 2. Leeds Met Carnegie II
• 3. Leicester City Ligers
• 4. Warwick Uni Warriors
• 5. New City Outlaws
• 6. Staffs Uni Sentinels
• 7. Northampton Cobras
• 8. Balls of Steel
• 9. Leeds Met Carnegie I
• 10. Dodge Vipers
• 11. Snoop Dodge
• 12. Worcester Tigers
• Teams of the Tournament:

First Team :

Ryan Knight (Jammy Dodgers), Ali Hall (Jammy Dodgers), Adam King (Jammy Dodgers), Richard Gray (Leicester City Ligers), Sean Jelley (Warwick Uni Warriors), Amin Mahboubi (Leeds Met Carnegie II). Subs: Kevin Kelly (New City Outlaws), Jamie Ellis (Northampton Cobras).

Ryan Knight: Captain of the 2008 Champions, Ryan led by example in giving orders to his team and launched every attack with great precision and power.

Ali Hall: Ali was one third of a powerful Dodgers attack which was the key in winning the Championship, but was also great in catching almost every attempt to get him out of the game

Adam King: The final third of the three man attack Dodgers used so well, Adam took a number of victims in each game and almost always avoided being a victim himself.

Richard Gray: Richard on numerous occasions was the man to save his team, taking a Dodgeball and moving in front of his team he deflected a number of balls away to safety, helping Ligers to progress and finish third.

Sean Jelley: Sean took numerous victims in every game he played as Warriors soared to finish fourth. 

Amin Mahboubi: Amin was a key figure in the success of surprise package Leeds Met Carnegie II. Amin successfully dodged most attacks until the final, and took his fair share of victims in the tournament.

Kevin Kelly: Joint fastest thrower of a Dodgeball, Kevin used this to his strength becoming one of Outlaws formidable attack.

Jamie Ellis: ‘Chavi’ was the obvious target from an opposition attack and on numerous occasions dodged the attacks and then replied with a powerful and precise attack of his own.

Second Team:

Ryan Jorge (Staffs Uni Sentinels), Matt Pennington (Warwick Uni Warriors), Mark Verdejo (New City Outlaws), James Cory (Dodge Vipers), Jarrad Pickering (Leeds Met Carnegie I), Richard Moody (Leicester City Ligers). Subs: Rich Lehane (Snoop Dodge), Robin Allison (Balls of Steel)

TEAM PROFILES

Team Profiles compiled by DANIEL CALVER (Staffordshire University)

Team Profiles correct at 18th April 2008, from information supplied by team captains/coaches.

BALLS OF STEEL

University Champions 2008, Balls of Steel of Nottingham University come into the 2008 Championships looking to add another tournament win to their successful season so far.

Team Captain Kyle Wedgwood is relishing the prospect of playing in the biggest tournament of the year, saying “This will be the biggest tournament we've played in in terms of acclaim. The teams here are the best of the best at the moment. Hopefully we will have a full strength squad on the day, but all manner of things can happen.”

But Kyle admits, their team’s focus may be elsewhere come the day of the Championships, “Since we'll only have just come back from holiday on the day of the tournament, I'm not sure that our team coordination will be quite as strong as it should be. I guess we'll just have to wait until the day to find out”.

Despite being on holiday so close to the tournament though, Dodgeball is the only thing in Balls of Steel’s mind as they have a Saturday training session scheduled before Sunday’s big event.

Kyle says, “We have an all important practice the day before, so we'll run over all the basics to make sure everyone is ready for the big day. We don't want to go too overboard thought so that everyone is fresh for Sunday, so we'll probably focus on teamplay and tactics during the Saturday practice”.

This will be Balls of Steel’s fourth tournament of the year having hosted and won a University tournament in November, and taking on Irish counterparts in Ireland for another, as well as competing in the Northampton Open.

This year’s squad includes an array of International stars including players from Senegal, Japan and Austria.

The Balls of Steel Squad for the 2008 Dodgeball Championships looks like this: Kyle Wedgwood, Matthew Van de Pette, Robert Hester, Jonathan Bailey, Robin Allison, Simon Archer, Jun Aso, George Wallner and Dave Holding.

SQUAD:

Name	Nickname	Age	From	Dodge	Dip	Duck	Dive	Dodge
Kyle Wedgwood	‘Earl’, ‘Hulk’	20	Leeds	8/10	6/10	5/10	4/10	8/10
Matthew Van de Pette	‘Fun Boy’,Sex Panther’	21	Surrey	1/10	1/10	1/10	1/10	1/10
Robert Hester	‘Hester’	21	Northwood	7/10	2/10	4/10	4/10	7/10
Jonathan Bailey	‘The Yank’	20	Senegal	0/10	0/10	0/10	0/10	0/10
Robin Allison	‘Spike’	19	Hull	9/10	4/10	5/10	3/10	9/10
Simon Archer	None	19	London	8/10	5/10	4/10	6/10	8/10
Jun Aso	none