Rule changes for Summer 2018 Counter will determine which side has the most balls. Then say This side, silently count from 10-6, then count out loud from 5..4..3..2..1. As long as a ball has been released before Counter finishes saying 1 there is not a penalty. The released ball does not have to make it across the middle line. Rule changes for Spring 2018 Rounds will no longer count as a tie breaker for playoff standings. If teams are tied in the standings at the end of the regular season, and are even in head to head matchups, the team that had the later first round draft pick will win the tiebreaker. At the discretion of Rec Social Sports Directors, players or teams that go across a line arguing with a ref or opposing team player (cursing, intimidating behavior, impeding play, general unsportsmanlike conduct), will be penalized with their team losing all the balls across to the other side. If the behavior happens in between rounds, the offending team will lose their dodgeballs at the beginning of the next round. Official Dodgeball Rules General rules: Each game will be 15 minutes long. As many individual rounds will be played as possible within the 15 minute time limit. The winner of the overall game will be the team that wins the most individual rounds. Note: If a round has not been completed when the fifteen minute period is up, it will be stopped mid-round and not counted towards the final score of the game. Field of Play: Blue Line along Clubhouse Windows, Blue/Black Line along Henderson St. Windows, Cage Wall, Padded Wall and a Blue Middle Line. 1
Ref Boxes: players can step on a ref box line but at no point should a whole part of their body touch the ground across the line, just like the back and side line. o Henderson Ref Box: will stretch from the center line to three (3) feet on either side of the center line. It will be from sideline all the way to Henderson wall. o Padded Side Ref Box: will stretch from the center line to three (3) feet on either side of the center line and two (2) feet into the field of play. Teams: Since this is our Social League, everyone that shows up to play will play each round, unless they choose themselves not to. There will be no forfeits for teams not having enough players, provided there is at least one team member present to play. If a team is short on players, they will play their scheduled game, but with less players than the other team. Exception - only when a whole team does not show up. Beginning of games/ Starting sides: Starting sides will be determined by either the captain (or co-captain) of each team playing paper, rock, scissors. The winner will choose which side (gym or office) their team will play from during round 1. At the beginning of each round, the team on the gym side will start with 4 balls (2 girls must be holding a ball), the team on the office side will start with 3 balls (1 girl must be holding a ball). Each player holding a ball before the start of a round should hold it up high so the refs can determine the correct number of balls are on each side. The teams will rotate sides after each round thereafter. Getting hit with a ball: A thrown ball is considered live until it hits the floor, ceiling and/or wall. A ball is considered dead when it hits the floor, ceiling and/or wall and therefore, can t get someone out. If a person gets hit by a thrown ball anywhere on their body (including their face/head/hair) before the ball touches the ground, wall, or ceiling, they are out. Articles of clothing (shirt, shorts, hats, costumes, etc.), ponytails, shoestrings, necklaces, watches, etc are considered a part of the person. Note: The exception is if the top of the hand is hit while holding a ball that is used to block a thrown ball from their opponent. A thrown ball can get more than one person out. If it bounces off one person and then hits another person before the ball touches the ground, wall, or ceiling, both of the people hit are out. A ball that is trapped either against a wall or ground does not get the thrower or the person who trapped it out. Whether the ball is actually trapped is up to the ref s discretion as to what they see. (However, if a person gets hit before it is trapped by their teammate, the person hit is out.) Kicking the ball does not constitute a throw. If someone kicks a ball at someone else, it can t get anyone out or be caught for an out. 2
o Kicking the ball in a malicious way at a particular player is considered bad sportsmanship. If a player kicks the ball in a malicious way, their team will have to roll all of the balls on their side of the court to the other team s side (across the opponent s attack line). It will be up to the ref s discretion as to what they consider malicious. When a player gets out, they are to immediately get off the court and not interfere with the game (must go to the window side). If they grab a ball that is on the ground, stop a ball that is bouncing to the other team s side, hit a ball that is in the air or in any way interferes, their team will have to roll all of the balls on their side of the court to the other team s side (across the opponent s attack line). o When a player is out and they are running off the court, if they get hit with a ball on accident or are otherwise trying to prevent themselves from being injured by stopping a ball, that is not considered a penalty, the ball is dead and cannot get anyone out whether it hits a player or is caught. o If a player is holding a ball when they are out, they are allowed to hand the ball or throw it to one of their teammates that are still in. o Whether a player is intentionally interfering or not will be up to the ref s discretion, not the players on the court or the players standing on the sidelines. Catching a ball: When a person catches a thrown ball, the person who threw the ball is out. When a person catches a thrown ball, it does not bring a player back in who was out. If a person gets hit with a ball and the ball bounces up in the air, anyone can catch the ball. In this example, the person who threw the ball is out and the person initially hit and the person catching the ball are both safe. If a ball bounces off of a player, the player may not run out of bounds to catch it. If a player runs out of bounds while catching a ball, they will be out and the person who threw the ball will be safe. If a ball bounces off of a player, the player must catch the ball before it hits the floor, ceiling and/or wall or the player who is hit will be called out and the person who threw the ball will be safe. While going up for a catch in the air, if a player gets hit with a different ball, they will be out. If the person is hit before catching the ball, the person who threw it is safe. If the person is hit after catching the ball, the person who threw ball 1 is out and the person catching ball 1 is out. Using a ball to block a thrown ball: Everyone is allowed to use balls to block incoming throws. o When a ball thrown at a player is blocked, the ball is not considered dead until it hits the ground, wall, and/or ceiling. If someone blocks a ball and then it hits any part of their body before hitting the ground, wall, or ceiling, they are out. If a person blocks the ball and it bounces off a teammate and then hits the ground, wall, or ceiling, the person hit with the ball is out. If a ball is blocked up into the air and then caught, the person who threw the ball is out. 3
When using a ball to block another ball, the person s hand is considered to be a part of the ball, thus the blocker is safe and the ball is still live until it hits the wall, ceiling, and/or ground. If a person uses a ball to block an incoming throw, but bobbles the ball or drops it altogether while blocking, the person blocking is out. When using a ball to block another ball, the person must retain full control of the ball they are using to block. Boundaries: Players must play within the boundary lines (including the ref s box) during game play or they will be called out. A person is not allowed to go out of bounds to get a ball that has been thrown out of bounds. Balls thrown out of bounds in the back by the office will be placed on the back line by the third ref standing back there. Balls thrown out of bounds on the side lines will need to be thrown in bounds by a player s teammates. o The only exception to this rule is if a team is short on players, and everyone is playing in the game. If there is no teammate to throw balls inbounds that go out on the window side of the court, a player may go out of bounds to get a ball, but must immediately come back in. They are only allowed to go out of bounds to get a ball and can t throw the ball until they come back inbounds. Once players on that team start getting out during a round, the rule will revert back to normal, and the players that are out will be responsible for throwing the balls that go out, back in bounds to their teammates. If a person trying to dodge a ball being thrown at them jumps from inbounds to out of bounds, they will be called out. Middle Line: The middle line separates the two sides of the court and is marked with blue tape. If any part of a person s body touches the middle line or the ground on the opponent s side of the middle line, that person is out. A person may reach across the middle line to grab a ball on the opponent s side, as long as no part of their body touches the ground on the other side of the middle line. Note: A player may place a ball on the opponent s court to support their body weight in order to grab a 2nd ball on opponent s court, so long as no part of their body touches the ground on the opponent's court. If a player throws a ball and after throwing, their momentum causes them to step on the middle line or go over it, the person who threw it is out and anyone they hit whether before, during or after stepping on the middle line is safe. Suicide Plays are not allowed. If a player runs and jumps over the middle line to throw to get someone out, the play will not count. If a person gets hit by a ball thrown by the person attempting the suicide play, the person hit will not be out. Since the suicide play is not allowed and the person jumps across the middle line, landing on the other side, to attempt it, they will be called out. o Attempting the suicide play is also considered bad sportsmanship. If a player attempts this, their team will have to roll all of the balls on their side of the court to the other team s side (across the opponent s attack line). 4
Side/Back Line Rules: Players must play within the side/back boundary lines during game play or they will be called out. Playing within the boundary lines is defined as having one s body on or within the side/back boundary lines. A player may have a foot (feet), a hand(s), knee(s), etc on the side/back boundary lines, provided they do not have any body parts completely touching the ground past the boundary lines. On the window side of the gym, the black line will be the sideline boundary. o You will be called out if you dodge out of bounds (as defined above) on this side even if you land with a part of your body inbounds. On the padded wall side of the gym, there is no sideline boundary. o Since the padded wall is considered in bounds, the wall can be used to run into or jumped off of. On the weight room end of the gym, there is no back line. o Since the metal wall is considered in bounds, the wall can be used to run into or jumped off of. Exception - players are not allowed to climb up over the cage area (this is a safety hazard). If a ball gets stuck up there, the refs will call a timeout and stop the game to get the ball. On the office side of the gym, the back line will be marked with blue tape. o You will be called out if you dodge out of bounds (as defined above) on this side even if you land with a part of your body inbounds. o On the office side of gym, stepping on the elevated step will be considered out of bounds. However, touching the window or wall along the back line to avoid falling and getting injured is ok. Progressing the game: To progress the game, a 10 second count will be implemented. If a ball is not thrown within 10 seconds, the offending team will be required to roll all their remaining balls across the middle line. The Counter Ref will determine which side has the most balls, then say (Insert team name) side, silently count from 10-6, then count out loud from 5..4..3..2..1. As long as a ball has been released before Counter finishes saying 1 there is not a penalty. The released ball does not have to make it across the middle line. If there is a break in the action and neither team is throwing the balls, the ref will instruct the team with the most balls to start throwing to keep the game moving. If they do not comply, the ref will count down from 7. If after 7 seconds the team with the most balls does not start throwing, they have to roll all of their balls to the other team. o The refs will count 7-6-5-4-3-2-1 and if the team being counted down hasn t thrown a ball (released from their hand not necessarily across the middle line yet), 5
they will be in violation and have to forfeit their balls to the other side. In other words, the refs won t be counting down to 0. If a ball is not released by the time the ref finishes saying "one" a penalty has occurred. The whistle will be blown to stop the game and have the balls rolled over to the other side. o A penalty will be called if, in the ref s opinion, a thrown ball has not been released from a player s hand before the ref finishes blows the whistle. o If Team A is being counted down, and Team B throws one of their balls, the count does not reset. In other words, the ref should continue counting down Team A until they throw a ball, regardless of whether Team B continues throwing their balls or not. o If a ref tells a team to start throwing, throw the ball. Setting the ball down and picking it up does not reset the play clock. However, a player may roll the ball to the other side if they don t want to throw it, as long as it gets past the other team s attack line (the black lines on either side of the blue middle line). Calls: Honesty is at the center of good sportsmanship. The refs will not be able to see everything that happens at all times. So if a person is out, they should take themselves out of the game and not wait on the refs to call them out. o If a person truly doesn t know, and a ref either didn t see them or didn t think they were out, then the person is safe. If a ref calls a player out, the player should get off the court as quickly as possible to avoid slowing the game down or causing confusion as to whether they are still in or not. If a ref calls a player out, the player should avoid yelling at the refs or questioning the call. There is no instant replay to check whether the call is correct, so the call will still stand and the person will be out. Remember, the ref has the final say, not the player. If a player thinks they hit someone and the other person doesn t get out and the ref doesn t call them out, the player should not yell at the ref. The ref may have either not seen it or honestly thought they weren t hit or otherwise out. If a ref is making continually bad calls during a game, the team captain (not the players) should politely talk to the commissioner about their concern. If a player thinks they hit someone and the other person doesn t get out, the player should not yell at the person. The other person may have honestly thought they weren t hit or otherwise out. If the problem persists with the same person never going out, the team captain (not the player) should politely talk to the commissioner about their concern. Timeouts: Teams do not have timeouts. The refs can call an official timeout for an injury, when a ball gets stuck on top of the cage or when a controversial call needs to be discussed between the refs/captains. The clock will be stopped during an official ref timeout. When the ref calls a timeout, any thrown ball in the air is considered dead. Refs: Each team will be responsible for reffing one game per night, providing 1 Head Ref on the padded side, 1 Counter Ref on the padded side next to the Head Ref, 1 Side Ref 6
on the window side to make calls and check for sideline penalties, and 1-2 Back Line Refs to watch for players stepping out of bounds on the office end and to shag balls. Two head refs will be assigned by the league, one standing next to the padded wall, the other on the window side of the court. Teams are required to provide 1 ref on the side next to the padded wall to sound the 7 second throw count. Teams are required to provide a 2nd ref in front of the office window to watch players stepping past the back line. Also, when balls get trapped on the office side in the back, the ref will place the ball(s) on the back line to get the balls back in play. People standing on the sidelines: Only refs, league officials and the players from the teams playing in the current game are allowed to be in the gym during games; all other players and visitors need to either be upstairs, in the clubhouse, in the weight room or outside. If a person is out, they should stand out of bounds on the window side. They cannot stand on the padded side or directly behind gameplay. This includes captains/co-captains. No one is allowed on the padded side but the head ref(s). Other than the refs and league officials, no one is allowed to be within the Henderson ref box [See Ref Box above] (the area on the Henderson sidelines between the two attack lines) during gameplay. Not even captains or co-captains are allowed in this area. Only refs and league officials should be in this area, because anyone else standing there obstructs the ref s view of the game and their ability to make proper calls. Other than the refs and league officials, no one is allowed to be within the Padded Side ref box [See Ref Box above] (the taped off area on the Padded Side) during gameplay. Not even captains or co-captains are allowed in this area. Only refs and league officials should be in this area, because anyone else standing there obstructs the ref s view of the game and their ability to make proper calls. An active player can reach into the ref box to get a ball (similar to the rules regarding active players and the Henderson sideline). If you are standing on the sidelines, you may not reach into the court to hit, catch, stop, etc. a ball that is going over to the opponent s side. If a ball has left the field of play, a teammate may grab the ball and throw it to one of their active players. A ball is considered to have left the field of play, when it has crossed into the sideline area with no part of the ball touching the sideline itself. o If you are not an active player and reach into the field of play to stop a ball from going over to the opponent s side, then your side will be forced to roll over all of their balls to the opponents. If you are standing on the sidelines and a ball that is out of bounds goes into the Henderson ref box, you may reach into the ref box to grab the ball to throw to one of your active players, to get the ball back into play. However, you cannot step into the ref box. If a ball ends up in the ref box and the players can t reach it, either a ref or league official will roll it into play on the middle line. o If an active player or a player that is out, steps into the Henderson ref box, then your side will be forced to roll over all of their balls to the opponents. Substitutions: During a match, there will be no substitutions allowed, except for injury situations (see below). 7
Injuries: If a player is hurt during the game, the ref will call an injury timeout, and the 15 minute game clock should be paused. If the player is unable to continue, the captain/co-captain may substitute the injured person out. If the injured player is female, only a female may be substituted in. If the injured player is male, a male or a female may be substituted. If an injured player is the last person left in a round and there is not another person of the same gender to replace the injured person, no one is substituted in. In that case, the individual round will be forfeited and count as a loss. Dead stop (during the regular season): Games will end with a dead stop at the 15 minute mark after a game begins. If a round is being played when the dead stop time arrives, the head ref is to blow the whistle to end the round and the round being played does not count on the score. Any balls that are in the air when the whistle is blown are considered dead. When a dead stop is called, one of the following things will happen: o If two teams are tied either going into a new round or during the middle of a round when the dead stop happens, the match will end in a tie. o If one team is ahead by one or more rounds won when going into a new round or during the middle of a round when the dead stop happens, the team with the most rounds won wins the game. Rankings/Standings: The teams will be ranked based on the following criteria: o Teams will first be ranked in order according to their overall record, based on a point system: A team will receive 5 points for every game that is won. A team will receive 2 points for every game that is tied. A team will receive 0 points for every game that is lost. o If teams are tied based on the point system, they will next be ranked based on their head to head record. o If teams are still tied, the team that had the later first round draft pick will win the tiebreaker. o If teams are still tied, they will next be ranked based on coin toss. Tournament: The tournament will be a ONE two night, SINGLE double elimination tournament. Teams will be seeded based on their rankings/standings (see above) Starting sides will be determined just like in the regular season, not based on seeds. 8
The games will be untimed, and will be played best of five, first team to win 3 rounds wins the game. The championship game(s) will be played best of seven, first team to win 4 rounds wins the game. Sportsmanship: Remember that the purpose of this league is for people to have fun and meet new people. We are all adults, so please act like it. Trash talking, yelling at people or the refs, making fun of people, making fun of how people play or other types of poor sportsmanship will not be tolerated. Poor behavior may result in a player being ejected from a game by the head ref and/or the commissioner. The refs will first give a warning to a player demonstrating unsportsmanlike conduct. If the conduct continues, the offender will be made to sit out a round. If the conduct continues after that, the offender will be ejected from the game. If a person continually causes problems, they will be removed from the league and possibly banned from all future Rec Social Sports leagues and activities. If someone feels other people are exhibiting poor sportsmanship, they should report it to their team captain, one of the refs, or the league commissioner. Copyright 2018 Rec Social Sports, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication or use in part or in whole is prohibited. 9