Teams will be made up of 6-10 players. Six (6) players will compete on a side; others will be available as substitutes. Substitutes may enter the game only during timeouts or in the case of injury.
THE UNIFORMS
Teams must wear the same color shirts. Teams are encouraged to wear team coordinated Halloween costumes. All players MUST wear court shoes during play.
The tournament will be played at Grossmont College Gymnasium. The playing field shall be a rectangle at least 50 ft long and at least 30 ft wide, divided into two (2) equal sections by a center-line and attack-lines 3m from, and parallel to the centerline.
IDEAL MEASUREMENTS: 60’ x 30’ – Identical to a volleyball court.
The official balls used in the tournament will be 6", 7" or 8.25" rubber-coated foam ball depending on the age division.
The object of the game is to eliminate all opposing players by getting them "OUT". This may be done by:
1. Hitting an opposing player with a LIVE thrown ball below the shoulders.
2. Catching a LIVE ball thrown by your opponent before it touches the ground.
Definition: LIVE: A ball that has been thrown and has not touched anything, including the floor/ground, another ball, another player, official or other item outside of the playing field (wall, ceiling, etc)
Players can not go out of bounds, other than at their end line to retrieve stray balls. If a player does, he/she will be called out. Players must also return through their end-line not from the side lines.
If a player catches a ball, and then falls or walks out of bounds, the catch is good, the thrower is OUT AND the player is OUT also.
Players are not allowed to jump out of bounds when trying to dodge a ball. If a player jumps entirely out of bounds to avoid being hit, the referee will call that player OUT.
If a player crosses the center line for any reason, he/she is OUT and if the player’s throw hits an opposing player, that player is NOT OUT.
NO SUICIDE THROWS allowed. (This is where a player jumps and throws the ball in mid-air, and lands on the other side of the center line. That Player is OUT and if anyone is hit by his/her throw they are NOT OUT.)
Game begins by placing the dodge balls along the center line – two (2) on one side of the center hash and two (2) on the other. Players then take a position behind their end line. Following a signal by the referee, teams may approach the centerline to retrieve the balls. This signal officially starts the contest. Teams may only retrieve the two (2) balls to their right of the center hash. Once a ball is retrieved it must be taken behind the attack-line before it can be legally thrown. Teams have 5 seconds to throw.
THE GAME
If the ball hits a player, then hits the ground, you are OUT. If a player catches a ball without it touching any inanimate object, the thrower is OUT and the team of the catcher gets a player back. First player out is the first player back (FOFI).
As soon as a player gets out, he/she must line up near the center line and working their way in (Last player out is closest to the center line). Substitute Players that are not in the game, need to stand away from the court. Substitute Players, not in the game, can retrieve balls out of bounds and return them to their team at the end line only. They are not allowed to throw the balls back in from the side lines.
Balls caught or picked up by any player must be thrown by that player. They can not be tossed it to a teammate to throw. A player can not kick a ball with his/her foot to another player on their team. A player can save the ball from going over the center or side lines by hitting it back towards their team, but a player may not pick the ball up and pass it to teammates.
DEFLECTING THE BALL WITH ANOTHER BALL
You CAN do this, but if in the process of deflecting you drop the ball, you are out. Catching either ball after the thrown ball has knocked out the ball in your hands will not count. Once the ball that is thrown hits the ball in your hands, it is "dead" to other players. They cannot catch it or get out by it.
RICOCHET RULE:
There IS RICOCHET RULE! If a ball hits Player A and then hits Player B on the same team before hitting the ground or inanimate object, both players are OUT. If Player B catches the ball after it ricochets off Player A, the thrower IS OUT and Player A is NOT OUT.
NO HEAD SHOTS!
If you hit someone in the head or face, you are OUT, unless in the opinion of the referee the player being hit purposefully lowered their body to cause the ball to hit their head or face. The referee will issue warnings for high shots so keep the ball low. After 1 high-shot warning, with the next high shot, that player is out. If a head/face shot is called, the ball is still alive and CAN be caught to bring another player in and the thrower is OUT.
Each match is best of 3 games. The first team to legally eliminate all opposing players will be declared the winner of the game. A 4-minute time limit has been established for each game. If neither team has been eliminated at the end of the 4 minutes, the team with the greater number of players remaining will be declared the winner of the game. If there is the same number of players left on each team at the end of 4 minutes, teams will play for 1 more minute to declare a winner.
There will be no timeouts. Substitutes can only be brought in at a start of a game.
You have 5 seconds to throw the ball once it is in your possession (possession will be determined by the referee and does not necessarily mean ball-in-hand). A team has 10 seconds to pick up a dead ball and another 5 seconds to throw it back across the court. Failure to pick the ball up and throw it will result in forfeiture of the ball to the opposing team. The referee will not count out loud to 10 seconds; it will be his/her call if he/she feels a ball has been dead for around 10 seconds. If one player has a ball in his/her hand, blocking an opposing team’s thrown ball does not reset that person’s 5 second count. Meaning everybody on the court only has 5 seconds to throw the ball – no exceptions. In order to reduce stalling, a violation will be called if a team in the lead controls all six (6) balls on their side of the court for more than 5 seconds.
THE REFEREE’S DECISION IS FINAL – NO EXCEPTIONS. Do not complain to the referee about calls and do not ask for a rules clarification during the game. The referee will call every thing he/she sees but cannot be expected to see every single play.
Team Captains are the only players who may approach the referee and between games only. Technical Fouls and Ejections will be issued to players at any time for violating the rules or displaying unsportsmanlike conduct before, during, or after the games.
AGAIN…THE REFEREE’S DECISION IS FINAL – NO EXCEPTIONS.
Although each match will have a referee, dodge ball is a game that relies also on the "honor system". Players will be expected to rule whether or not a hit was legal or whether they were legally eliminated. Be honest and remove yourself from the game immediately. This includes grazing of the shirt, shorts or body.
TECHNICAL FOULS AND EJECTIONS
Technical Fouls will be issued to players for violating the rules or displaying unsportsmanlike conduct. Any player who receives a technical foul for any reason, in any one game may not play for the remainder of that game. That player can not come back in until the next game of that match.
A Technical Foul issued between games/matches counts toward the following game, therefore the next game must be played with 5 players.
The referee has the right to EJECT players from the game without issuing a Technical Foul first and they MUST leave the gymnasium immediately. If a player is EJECTED from the gymnasium, the team must play one person down (5 players) for the remainder of the tournament. The Ejected player with be suspended for the next scheduled match as well.
Team Captains should self-police their players to ensure their teammates are not putting themselves in a position to get ejected.
TALKING TO OTHER TEAMS
Not allowed. The point of this rule is to ensure that people are having fun and not getting angry. Regardless of who started it, anyone caught arguing with the other team will receive a technical.
TOURNAMENT FORMAT
This tournament will be a pool play - round robin and then top teams in each pool will enter a single elimination tournament to determine the champion. Number of matches will be dependent on the number of teams in the tournament. No “limit of teams” has been set. This tournament is open to male and females but there is no rule on # of females and males on the court. (i.e. a team can be any combination of males and females)