Central European Dodgeball VICE-Champions
In March of 2019, the Swedish Mixed Team got their first international medal when we came second in the Central European Championships, losing the gold to the incredible Austrians after being tied all the way into the final seconds. I’ve compiled a highlights video containing some of my plays from the tournament, which is attached at the end.
For those who do not know what Dodgeball is, I will give a very brief overview. It is a rapidly growing sport that has received “observer status” for the Olympic Games. It is played with 6 players on each team and 5 balls on the court. The goal is to eliminate the other team by hitting the players with the balls, or making catches when they throw at you. Catching a ball allows you to take one player back into the game, making this a very lucrative move. No place on the body is safe from elimination, but one may use a ball for protection. It is a game of speed, agility, explosiveness, precision, composure, and tactics. One would be surprised by the amount of tactical training required to make a Dodgeballer, with every move coming down to split second decisions about risk and reward, always keeping in mind the statistical probabilities of certain moves and scenarios, as well as the relative number of balls in possession and in control by both teams. In the end, it is a game of statistics, very similar to that of baseball (but with a couple more degrees of freedom with regard to the underlying variables).
A major difference from other sports is the existence of a Mixed division, where there are 3 men and 3 women on each team. This sets the ground for tremendous group dynamics, but also makes Mixed Dodgeball the most tactically demanding to play. As the men usually have stronger throws, the women who successfully play Mixed often end up perfecting their catches, with the ability to swing sets around dramatically in the final stretches (by eliminating the thrower, and bringing in the first eliminated player, which is often the player with the best throw). Should one eliminate the best thrower first – and be a bit safer the rest of the set, but risk throwing a catch to the best catcher and that player coming back on in the end of the set – or should one eliminate the catcher first – and be mauled by the thrower remaining on court. This is a question as old as time.
I’ve made a “Moneyball”-approach to Dodgeball, where I have manually recorded every Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive, and Dodge (2’078 events, and 110’568 raw data points) of the Swedish Mixed Team at the European Championships in 2018, and written a 77-page python-based script for analysis of player performance. I have also implemented some team-relevant statistics, and plan on expanding that part of the script once I find the time. I will devote future posts to these analyses and the findings, and will hopefully by then also have found the time to record the data from the CEC 2019, and perhaps even the upcoming Euros in Newcastle in July 2019.
The Swedish National team has become famous as the “Harlem Globetrotters” of Dodgeball, and have suitably been dubbed the “Sweden Spectaculars”. However, one should not be distracted by their crowd-warming celebrations or quirky moves. The Swedish Women have previously secured a bronze medal at the Euros. The Men have a record of 4th at the Euros, and the Mixed team as 8th (however, at the 100th percentile). I made my debut for the Mixed team at the Euros 2018 in Italy, and at that time the team had never won a single international game. As the team was rather new, and hadn’t played much together, we were slow to warm up and lost the first 2 games, but picked up speed after that and won the remaining three, placing a record 9th out of 16 (56th percentile). Since tasting blood for the first time, the Mixed team stepped up game even further at the Central European Championships 2019 in the Cech Republic, where the highlights are from, securing the silver medal (winning 8 out of 9 games). It is also where I made my debut for the Men’s team, which placed 4th after losing the bronze medal to the Italians. It is worth noting that the regional European tournaments have less stringent rules, and nations can, if they have enough good players, register several teams. Austria, being a dominating force at the European level, usually do just that, and have had a history of being the only nation to ever place in the finals at the CEC (that is, two Austrian teams against each other). This year, the Swedish Mixed team surprised with a spot in the final. Despite being star struck by the Austrians, fear did not seep in, and what started with a lead ended up with a tie in the final seconds of the game, with Austria winning due to more players on court at the end of the final set. This game certainly marked the beginning of a new era in Swedish Dodgeball – an era where everything is possible, and no opponent is untouchable.
All the Sweden Spectaculars – and the Mixed team in particular – will be bringing this mindset, to the Euros in Newcastle in July 2019. Biannually, the Euros serve as qualifiers for the World Championships, and this is one of those years. The Spectaculars will be going all in to secure three spots at the World Championships in Cancun, Mexico in November 2019.
Swedish Dodgeball is expanding rapidly, with clubs in Göteborg, Stockholm, Uppsala, Umeå, Alingsås, and Idre. The first ever Swedish National Championships were held in December 2018, with more to come, and there are ongoing discussions about a national league. In case you are interested in trying out dodgeball, or want to organize a team-building session with the National Team, you can send me a message via the contact form. Be sure to check out @dodgeballsweden on Instagram.
Until then, I’ll let you enjoy watching me maul various Europeans with nationalistic vigour: