Dodgeball League Rules

Rosters 

• All rosters must be submitted electronically to REC-IM via the REC-IM website or through e-mail by the advertised registration deadline.
   
• A team may have up to two free agents on their roster (anyone not from the team's hall affiliation).
   
• Gordon-Conwell may put a team in the league; however, they will be ineligible for playoff competition.
   
• Rosters are not locked in until seven (7) days following the team's first game.

Sportsmanship Policy

• Only team captains may address the officials.
   
• The officials play an important part in sportsmanship as they rate the actions of the team from 1-5 (very poor - poor - fair - good - excellent). Any time that a team receives a very poor, the Director of Officials must be contacted and given a report. If a team receives a second rating of very poor they will be removed from the league and will lose all points accumulated during competition.
   
• In order to qualify for the playoffs, a team must have an average of a 3.0.
   
• Any team that has an average of 4.0 or higher will be given a 10-point sportsmanship bonus.
   
• The referees are in place as mediators for dodgeball. It is expected that all teams will play with integrity and respect for both the other team and the officials.

Forfeit Policy

Due to the never-ending challenges of scheduling, a team will only be allowed to forfeit two times before they will be removed from the league (after 3rd forfeit). A forfeit will be charged to a team any time they do not show up for a game, or if they drop below the minimum number of players. In addition, the team will be docked their 5 registration points and any other points accumulated during competition. Forfeits will count one per night, not per game. If your team forfeits the first game, they can still play the second game. If there are more than 3 games scheduled for a team in one night, if they play half or more than half of the games they will only be charged with half a forfeit.

Playoff Eligibility

• A player must be on the roster and must sign in to at least one-half of their team's regular season games in order to be eligible for the playoffs. Eligible players will be announced before the playoffs and only eligible players will be allowed to participate.
   
• A team will be ineligible for the playoffs if they have a sportsmanship rating of 3.0 or lower.

Starting a Game

• All players must sign in with their name and ID before the start of each game.
• A meeting will be held with both teams before the start of each game to set some ground-rules and to pray.
• A team must have 5 players at gametime or else it is a forfeit.
• Each team starts with 2 balls and 1 ball will be placed at the center.  The center ball is for whoever gets it first and it is in play immediately.  If the game starts with less balls, any balls that accidently enter the court must be given to the refs and not played with.
• Players must start out of bounds at their designated end

Match Format

The games will be played in a best of five format. The first team to win three games will win the match. 

Game Play

• Both teams are required to wear their affiliation colors.
• Up to ten (10) players can be on the court at once. Any more than 10 will have to await substitution. 
• Each game will last five (5) minutes.
• The object of the game is to eliminate all opposing players by getting them "out." This may be done by:
• Hitting an opposing player with a live ball.
• Catching a live ball thrown by your opponent. If a ball is caught, the opponent is out, not the person catching it.
• Live Ball: a ball that has been thrown and has NOT touched anything including the wall, the floor, another ball, another player, official, the curtain, etc. This also means if a player is hit they may catch the ball hit off of them but no one else can
• If a person attempts to block a live ball with another ball and drops the ball, they are out
• Teams will alternate directions between games.
• Once a player is out, they must sit against their team's back wall. This is so the opposing team does not get confused with who is in and who is not.
• Each team is given one time out per game. In overtime each team will be given one time out regardless of previous timeouts used.
• Substitutions can be made only during timeouts. Only players who have not played in the game are eligible substitutes. Someone who has been knocked out cannot return to the game.
• If a player arrives late, they cannot enter the game immediately. They must wait to be substituted. A player may not just enter the game, he must be replacing someone else. In other words, if a player arrives late and a team started with nine players, he/she may not enter to be the tenth even if that team takes a timeout.
• A team has ten (10) seconds to get rid of the ball. If the referee gives the player a warning, they must get rid of the ball immediately or they will be called out.
• No kicking or spiking the ball and no throwing the ball against the wall.
• Players must stay inside of the out of bounds lines on the basketball court on all times. The only time a player should leave is to get a ball.

Line Changes

• Players will immediately be allowed to go to their opponent's three point line extended, which will be marked by cones on both sides of the court.
   
• After two and a half (2.5) minutes has elapsed, players will be able to go to their opponents'  free throw line extended, which will be marked by cones on both sides of the court.
    
• If any player goes over any of these lines at any point in the game, the referee will call them out.

Overtime

• If both teams have the same amount of players at the end of regulation, an overtime period will be played.
   
• Teams will be allowed to pick any five players to compete in the overtime.
   
• The extra period will last two minutes. The team with the most players at the end of this period will be the winner. If it is still tied, subsequent one (1) minute overtimes will follow until a winner is declared or until time allows.

• Play starts with players being able to go to their opponent's foul line extended.