Get the Heck Into Dodge

Concordia Dodgeball League Is Back in Action

SportsDavid Kaufmann — Published October 3, 2011

If flying balls and diving jocks pique your interest, Concordia has a recreational league just a ball’s toss from downtown that’s calling your name.

The Concordia Dodgeball League kicked off its third year in existence Saturday night at Le Gym and is opening its arms to ConU students to play for free once a fortnight.

President of the CDL Sami Chidiac says the club usually draws between 40 to 50 people every other Saturday, and a crowd of 100 when they hold one-day tournaments.

“Dodgeball is very popular in the United States, but it wasn’t that popular outside of the U.S. before the movie,” he says, referring to the 2005 feature film Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, which starred Stiller. “After the movie everybody wanted to play dodgeball. [It] was very influential,” said Chidiac.

But being the next Ben Stiller or Vince Vaughn isn’t the only reason people show up. Zaid Dagamsch, a member of Engineers Without Borders, who are partners with the CDL, says he likes the laid-back and fun atmosphere.

According to VP Fundraising Julian Egron, the money they raise goes toward the Engineers Without Borders junior fellowship program. “This is where we send two students to Africa to work on their sustainable development projects with EWB people over there and have projects in mind,” said Egron.

“I was really excited that Concordia has some organized sporting event that’s not super professional,” said Dagamsch. He’s clearly not alone, as evidenced by the league’s growing popularity in recent years.

The CDL won the Concordia Student Union’s Best Club award the year it was established in 2009, and it has high aspirations for the future too.

According to VP Internal of the Dodgeball Association Rayann Chebat, they want to break the Guinness World Record for most participants in a dodgeball game. University of California currently holds the record, with 4,000 people and over 1,000 balls.

On a smaller scale, however, Chebat wants to grow the sport by holding association tournaments around Montreal.

“We want to have associations playing against each other. That way they get to know each other better… There’s a better dynamic going on between them,” said Chebat.

But for now, ConU students can enjoy a game of classic dodgeball, in which players are out if they are hit with the ball or if they fail to catch a ball thrown at them, or ‘doctor’ dodgeball, in which the team selects a doctor to revive those who have been struck with the ball.