Objectives
Dodgeball PEI is the provincial organization for Dodgeball on Prince Edward Island. Our objective is to foster, encourage, promote, and administer the development of our sport on our province through the following steps:
- To encourage and support the participation of individuals, league teams, and competitive touring teams in dodgeball based on Prince Edward Island.
- To emphasize that participation in Dodgeball be carried out in an honest and friendly manner, and that all participants display the ‘spirit of the game’ to the best of their abilities.
- Encouraging and promoting recreational and competitive Dodgeball.
- Developing the sport across Prince Edward Island.
- To encourage the health and physical fitness of the individual through participation in the sport of Dodgeball.
- To provide a wide range of opportunities for all who wish to participate in Dodgeball regardless of their skill level or desire for competition.
History
The UPEI Dodgeball Club was formed in the fall of 2002. Joshua Simon, a second year UPEI student discovered a group playing a game called “Cougarball”, a variation of dodgeball, while on campus one day. Games hosted by fourth year UPEI student Joey Weale consisted of a dozen or so of his friends, and ran for a few weeks. After Joey left to work on other projects, Joshua approached UPEI to request gym time and to formally create the UPEI Dodgeball Club.
Joshua Simon and friend Daniel McRae ran the club from 2002 – 2004 before Daniel left to focus on other endeavors. The club ran every Sunday night from 6-8pm, and was split between Cougarball for the first hour, and Dodgeball for the second hour. Several different variations of Dodgeball were played each week such as traditional, jail, doctor, and elimination. The club ballooned to over 60 members with special focus on the inclusion of people from all levels of skill and experience. Joshua continued to run the club until May of 2005 before graduating and moving to Montreal. The club ran for a year after that with various members taking on the role of president, before eventually coming to an end after poor planning led to a reduction in the attendance of members.
In 2009, after returning to PEI, Joshua attended Holland College and brought back the Dodgeball Club under a new name, the “PEI Dodgeball Club” in order to secure gym space at Holland College. The club followed a similar format as in the past, with Cougarball and Dodgeball, and a Sunday night time-slot. In the Spring of 2011, the PEI Dodgeball Club attended their first ever National tournament in Toronto. The team placed 5th and proved that the Island could be a competitor. In the fall of 2011, the PEI Dodgeball Club moved back to UPEI to its Sunday night time-slot. It was during this time that Matthew Lawrence was appointed to run the club alongside Rob Vail. Matt Lawrence then fully took over as president until 2018, with the club terminating in 2019. It was through his dedication that Island Dodgeball thrived. Matt put on numerous tournaments each year and organized teams to attend off Island tournaments and National competitions. He also raised a lot of money for various not-for-profit organizations through tournaments and fundraisers.
In the fall of 2012, the Charlottetown Sport and Social, organized by Darcy Campbell and Devin Bruce, started a multi-sport league night, with Dodgeball as one of the main sports in the rotation. Between new faces getting an opportunity to try Dodgeball, and current PEI Dodgeball Club members, it became so popular that they created a Wednesday night league dedicated to Dodgeball. It has since grown and now includes a Thursday night recreation league as well as a Wednesday night Competitive league.
In May of 2016, Avonlea Armada, our first Island all-female team took home the bronze medal from the National Dodgeball Festival held in Barrie, Ontario.
In April 2017, PEI sent teams to represent the island in both the Men and Women’s divisions of Dodgeball Canada’s National Championship held in Halifax, Nova Scotia. As a result of this tournament, an islander was named a member of team Canada for the first time! Halen Sky was selected for the women’s Team Canada program. Jen Rempel and Dalton Mackenzie were chosen as alternates and were members of Team Maple Leaf.
In May of 2017, Riptide, PEI’s Men’s team took home the silver medal from the National Dodgeball Festival held in Barrie, Ontario.
In 2018, Avonlea Armada made history as the first non-Ontario team to make it to the finals of the National Dodgeball Championship in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The following May, PEI’s Riptide knocked out the top men’s team in Canada at the National Dodgeball Festival and eventually made it to the finals against Team USA. Unfortunately, in both examples neither Armada nor Riptide won the championship, but their spirit and effort did not go unnoticed.
In the fall of 2018, Dodgeball PEI was officially recognized as a non-profit. With the creation of a board, Dodgeball PEI would be able to provide more funding and opportunities for its athletes. It was also that year that PEI began its high performance program created by Adam Loo. Adam, using his experience as an athlete and coach in elite sports, began the program to bring dodgeball in line with other sports in the province. This program includes group workout and training sessions for any athletes interested in pursuing dodgeball competitively and trying out for Provincial teams.
In 2019, Dodgeball PEI was given the honor of running the National Dodgeball Championships. Bringing everything full circle, this spectacular event was held at the UPEI gym. PEI was granted a second men’s team, which was subsequently named Black Flag. Along with Riptide and Armada, they competed against a record number of teams from across the country. Armada had the highest placement coming in fourth. Shortly after this event, the longest running President in Dodgeball PEI history, Matt Lawrence retired from the board and Leanne Wilson stepped in as President.
In the fall of 2019, the Dodgeball World Championships were held in Cancun, Mexico. After a stellar year of dodgeball, MacKenzie Pinet was selected to represent Team Canada.
In 2020, the Maritime Dodgeball League was created by Greg Bradley. The focus of this league was to provide Provincial teams and other high performance players across the Maritimes with the opportunity to compete against one another in preparation for the Dodgeball National Championships. Unfortunately, the league was cut short due to Covid. As with this league, the National Championships were also cancelled in 2020.
In the summer of 2020, Alex Borghese was named President of Dodgeball PEI. Herself along with the other board members have been continuing to run leagues, tournaments, and fundraisers when safe to do so in accordance with CPHO guidelines. The next National Championships will be held in Edmonton in June of 2022 where PEI will be submitting 3 teams to compete.