League Policies

GENERAL

1. Teams are co-ed, made up of a minimum of 6 players and maximum of 12 players.
2. All players must sign a waiver, and be 19 years and over, in order to play; no exceptions.
3. All teams must have 2 females, if not more, on the court to start a game. If needed, a team can borrow a female from another team, but must still have 1 player from their own roster for their games to officially count.
4. Teams may borrow additional females in the regular season to a maximum of 5 players, excluding the female player from the original roster.
5. In playoffs, no team may be allowed to borrow any females from another team.
6. Substitutes that are outside of the league must sign a waiver prior to playing.
7. Male substitute players can only play for one team per night.
8. After 2 weeks of substitution for a certain team, a male substitute player will be ineligible to substitute for another team for the season.
9. Illegal substitutes could result in a forfeit of all games played by the illegal substitute. An illegal substitute is a player that infringes General #6-8.
10. Only roster players are eligible for Playoffs if they have played a minimum of 3 weeks prior to Playoffs. Exceptions will be granted on a case by case basis.
11. Any physical altercations, or serious breaches of spirit and sportsmanship will be automatically met with disciplinary actions which could result in suspensions or expulsion.*
12. The Wack has a zero tolerance policy towards drugs and alcohol. They are prohibited in all gyms and surrounding areas, and within players’ bodies (playing under the influence). Simply put, if a player or a Wack Exec can smell the substances emanating from a player, then the offender will be ejected from the premises immediately and will be subjected to further disciplinary action afterwords, including suspensions and expulsion.
13. Usage of gym apparatuses during dodgeball play (chin-up bars, climbing walls, ropes) or performing dangerous actions and stunts (backflips off walls and the gym stage) are banned due to safety concerns.
14. Captains’ handshake: to build trust, goodwill and a better sense of community, captains are to meet with each other at the beginning of the night, before any games are played, and take a minute to introduce themselves, shake hands, and wish each other well. This helps with any conflicts on the courts.
15. Captains’ Clause: a game may be played under some variation of the rules and policies agreed upon by the captains of the teams involved.**
16. The Wack Dodgeball League expects all players to be mature, respectful and sportsmanlike to other participants and to league organizers. In order to protect the community, we reserve the right to refuse service.

* – In order to protect league players, The Wack reserves the right to give official warnings and suspensions on any of the above violations, and may ask the instigator to leave the court or premise immediately if the violation is severe. Three official warnings, or a single severe violation will lead to a ban from the league for the rest of the season including playoffs.
** – This rule is only for rare and extenuating circumstances (e.g. permitting a team to play with only 1 female on the court or 1 female substitute player at Playoffs due to unexpected injury or absence). Both captains must agree on any changes of the rules and policies. In addition, pressuring another captain to change the rules and policies against his/her will is unsportsmanlike.

PLAYOFFS AND SPIRIT

1. To place greater emphasis on fun and good spirit, The Wack ensures that ALL teams make the Playoffs.
2. Playoffs are a double knockout tournament.
3. Teams that do not fill out a spirit ballot at the end of a night will forfeit their input for other teams’ spirit scores for that night. All other teams receive a 10 from said team by default. The team itself receives scores as given to them by the other teams.
4. Spirit scores that do not have a good justification for a score under 5 will be ignored.
5. Spirit scores for the other teams affected in scenarios 5 and 6 will be averaged based on the other submitted scores.

As a general rule of thumb, if a team has met most of the points of the guidelines, they should be given a spirit score of 7 to 10. If an opposing team is given a score under 5, the team giving the score must explain the reason(s) for the score. If there’s no good justification, the score will be ignored, and the opposing teams will get an average based on the other scores submitted. Teams giving other teams a zero are flagged and followed-up on, as it’s considered a serious complaint.

If teams don’t fill out a spirit ballot at the end of a night, they forfeit their say in other teams’ spirit scores for that specific night. All other teams receive a 10 from said team by default. The team itself receives scores as given to them by the other teams. .

What Happens to the Spirit Ballot?
The hard copy of the Spirit Ballots are kept in The Wack’s vault and a soft copy is inputted into our top secret, very complicated, high-tech, custom-designed system (AKA an online spreadsheet). In addition, we take your comments on the Spirit Ballot into consideration and they are reviewed by the team to help us improve the league.

The How-Tos of Spirit Ballots
Basically if a team demonstrates high spirit, good sportsmanship, consistent reffing, and are just a blast to play with, they should receive a 10 out of 10. The comment section is available for positive comments too, so if you had a great time at dodgeball playing a certain team, write that in! We love hearing positive feedback just as much as constructive criticism.

The What NOT-To-Dos of Spirit Ballots
The Spirit Ballot is:

X – NOT a reporting tool. If you have a concern to bring up with another team, as per our new conflict resolution process, please try to resolve the matters player-to-player or captain-to-captain immediately. The comments are used to improve the overall logistics of The Wack, get feedback on what teams need coaching, but are not used to resolve personal conflicts or major complaints. Please follow up with a Wack Exec  if there’s been a spirit or code of conduct breach.
X – NOT used as a punishment tool. The opposing team should not be punished with a low score because of misunderstandings of the rules, or because of an inability of impacted teams to speak up, and address the issue directly. Proper conflict resolution, done immediately, should prevent low spirit scores.
X – NOT to be used to sabotage another team. Do not give the opposing team a low score in order to sabotage their efforts to get better Playoff seeding or to win Hootie the Spirit Owl. This action in itself contradicts what Spirit is all about.