New in fall 2023: Gender rule update & new dodgeball rules

Play Sask is bringing the gender rule back into effect for all leagues for the fall 2023 season, with a minimum of two people of the opposite gender required on the court at all times.

In 2020, we removed the gender rule from our dodgeball league, and we removed the gender rule from our soccer leagues in 2019. We’d hoped that by removing the gender rule, we’d create a more friendly environment for women where they weren’t forced to play the whole game with no subs, and at first, the change seemed to be positive — teams still had lots of female players and there was less pressure for them to play the entire game.

Over time, though, we started to lose our female players until some teams only had one woman, or in some cases, none. Play Sask offers co-ed leagues because we believe in being a welcoming and inclusive place for people to get together and play sports, and the fewer women on the field, the less women wanted to get involved.

Our hope is that in bringing back the gender rule, our leagues will be more welcoming to women again, opening up the sport to more people!

New dodgeball rules

All dodgeball leagues this fall will be following modified World Dodgeball Federation (WDBF) rules — similar to what you would follow if you were to play at a regional, national, or international tournament, but with a few changes to keep it more casual.

We tried out the rules during our spring/summer season and got positive feedback. Players found the rules to be easier to follow, logical and — most importantly — fun! It’s exciting to save a player on your team by catching a ball that bounced off them, and it’s super satisfying to get two or three players out at the same time. Players don’t need to worry about dropping a ball and you can pick up more than one ball at once.

Another benefit to these rules is that they’re being adopted as the official dodgeball rules across Canada and internationally. As dodgeball becomes more popular and accepted as a mainstream sport, it makes sense to follow the official rules.

Later season start

Leagues are starting a little later this year than they have in the past, with the first game either the last week of September or the first week of October. Depending on how many teams register, games will run until early December and all will be wrapped up before the Christmas break.

Some leagues in the city will cut teams if there is an uneven number registered. At Play Sask, we believe in having as many people play as possible! If your team was cut from another league, we want to give you a chance to play in our league, so we’re starting our season later to give those teams a chance to register.