The Best Dodgeball Teams of the 2010s
As the 2010s come to a close, so too will The Dodgeball Tribune. Here, in our final article, we look back at the best dodgeball teams of the past decade:
1. Doom
The team of the decade! The battle between this team and San Diego Rise is extremely close, but Doom gets the edge due to finishing off the decade stronger which included five Ultimate Dodgeball Championships. No other team earned even two titles. They also had five Elite Dodgeball National Championships as well. Justin Payan, Nate Kreiter, and Vince Marchbanks arguably formed the team’s core, but their roster of so-called “role players” included names that would have been any other team’s standouts: Ish Blanco, Kol Harrell, Frank Maiorana, Terry Murphy, Eric Radke, Bryanna London, Tracy Brown, and Sarah Schlabach made this team an all-time great (and earned Hall of Fame consideration). Along with the championships, Doom was “The Team of the Year” (a Dodgeball Tribune ranking shown below) in 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2018.
Final Championships:
UDC Champions 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017 (Runner-up in 2018).
Elite Open 8.5” National Champions 2016, 2017, (Runner-up in 2014, 2015, 2018)
Elite Coed 8.5” National Champions 2015 (Runner-up in 2014, 2017, 2018)
Elite Coed No-Sting National Champions 2017
Elite Pinch National Champions 2014
Elite West Coast Series 8.5” Champions 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018
2. San Diego Rise
The second greatest team of the 2010s and again, it’s very close. Rise certainly can make a case for being the greatest team of the decade (since Doom really came to be as 2012 wound down). They dominated the National Dodgeball League (NDL) in the early part of the decade and as Elite Dodgeball formed and grew, Rise earned at least one National Championship in every year but 2019, earning six total National Championships. Their core of Tim Fullerton, Jim McMasters, and Serge Ferrari has been together since the start, with huge contributions from long time member Allan Stott. They too have a veritable who’s who of legendary players who helped them earn those Elite titles including Billy Schmitt, Casey Moses, Chris Bell, Tyler Greer, Chad Landrum, Brian Armon, Lousia Boughan and Corina Ferrari. In the NDL era, they also received contributions from Justin Payan, Joseph Collela, and Eric Jones. Along with the championships, Rise was “The Team of the Year” in 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2015.
Final Championships:
Elite Open 8.5” National Champions 2014, 2015, 2018
Elite Coed 8.5” National Champions 2014, 2017 (Runner-up in 2015, 2016)
Elite Coed No-Sting National Champions 2016
Elite West Coast Series 8.5” Champions 2015
Elite Throwdown National Champions 2014
NDL Open Stinger National Champions 2011, 2012, 2013
NDL Open Foam National Champions 2012, 2013 (Runner-up in 2011)
NDL Open 8.5” National Champions 2012, 2013 (Runner-up in 2011)
NDL Coed Foam National Champions 2013 (Runner-up in 2012)
NDL Coed 8.5” National Champions 2012, 2013 (Runner-up in 2011)
3. Dynasty
It might be a little surprising seeing Dynasty in this spot, but five consecutive Elite National Championships in the Pinch division says all you need to know about their greatness, in one division. While they lack diversity in being able to win in more than one division and in more than one ball style, their longevity of winning over a five year span keeps them in this spot (though their runner-up finish in the Elite Open 8.5” National Championship and multiple Top 8 Ultimate Dodgeball Championship finishes cannot be overlooked). Still, they can take pride in being the best Pinch team ever. Kevin Bailey, Jalen Gardner, Dylan Fettig, Trevor Nordberg, Kenny Bacchus and Austin Morley made this team almost untouchable. With other key players like Colin O’Brien and Brandon Meisel over the years. No one is within an arms reach of this powerhouse Pinch team.
Final Championships:
Elite Pinch National Champions 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
Elite Open 8.5” National Champions (Runner-up in 2017)
Elite North Region Series 8.5” Champions 2016, 2017
Elite North Region Series Pinch Champions 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019
4. Pop That
Moving on from the men, no women’s team this decade has more hardware or a longer track record than Pop That. Their core of Brittney Massro, Erika Schmidt, Azalea Donche, Jennifer Giacomazzi, and Cece Enestrom predated Elite and added key members along the way including Rachel Rodia, Lauren Hoffman, Shannon Murphy, Jackie Thomas, and Stefanie Baxter. They captured three Elite National Championships, along with two runner-up finishes. In addition to the championships, Pop That was “The Team of the Year” in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2017.
Final Championships:
Elite Women’s 8.5” National Champions 2014, 2015
Elite Women’s No-Sting National Champions 2019 (Runner-up in 2016, 2017)
Elite West Coast Series No-Sting Champions 2016, 2017
5. Echo
They might not be happy with this spot, and you can’t blame them, knowing that they were two 2019 victories away from adding two more National Championships to their resume. Still, three Elite National Championships in two different ball styles is no small feat. Consistency has been key for them with Justin Payan, Andrew Ketchum, Brett Baxter, Joseph Collela, Nicole Chasin and Kate Gong around since the beginning. Other key contributors include Frank Maiorana, Terry Murphy, Zander Simos, Stefanie Baxter and Kiki Caudana. This is clearly one of the best coed teams in the past decade.
Final Championships:
Elite Coed 8.5” National Champions 2016, 2018 (Runner up 2019)
Elite Coed No-Sting National Champions 2018 (Runner up in 2019)
6. Invasion
The other twin tower of women’s dodgbeall for the past six years is, of course, Invasion. Invasion pre-dated Elite’s formation and certainly earned their way onto this list with two Elite National Championships. Nicole Chasin, Kate Gong, and Becca Slivka have been together since the beginning and Rolena Thomassin, Angelique Gorospe, Joanna Muñoz, Katie Sanchez, and Jackie Doroshewitz helped bring those titles home. Along with their championships, Invasion was “Team of the Year” in 2016 and 2018.
Final Championships:
Elite Women’s No-Sting National Champions 2016, 2018
7. Team Awesome
These are the hard spots. Team Awesome has dominated the East Region for the entirety of the past decade. They have won a lot in the East. On a National level, however, it’s been a different story. They absolutely deserve credit for their longevity and regional success, not to mention their 2015 (UDC) National Championship. Their signature acrobatic style of play lent itself particularly well to that format — they were a mainstay of the event and also finished runner-up to Doom the previous year. No-Sting has been their game and Matt and Drew Giovinco will go down as some of the best to play the sport. While the brothers got the spotlight, Michael Caterino, Chris Zelinsky, and Brenden Wolgemuth were just as instrumental to their success. Other contributors include John Iorio, Frankie Giannetto, (recent WDBF gold medalist) Jeff Giovinco, Sam Jones, Ed Aponte, Narces Clarkson, Chris Wheeler, Andy Smith, Tasha Mabin, Nicole Napoli and others helped continue Team Awesome Dodgeball’s long tradition of excellence.
Final Championships:
UDC Champions 2015 (Runner up 2014)
Elite Coed No-Sting National Champions (Runner up 2017)
Elite East Coast Series 8.5” Champions 2015, 2017, 2019
8. Crysis
Crysis gets the nod at number eight because longevity is a factor here. Of course many teams deserve recognition, but none more than Crysis. Their long history is somewhat complicated by the fact that they have many successful years in the Ultimate Dodgeball Championship but only one year (2019) as Elite participants. Of course that “first year” resulted in a National Championship in Open No-Sting. Though they never were able to get to a UDC Championship match, they spent all but one of the seven years of the UDC in the Top 8, finishing tied for third place twice. One of the team’s founders, Ryan Morris, has been with the team every year, and Brody Johnson, Phil Middleton and Tad Delugo have been around most of the time. More recent additions for certain divisions include Maddyx Helmrich, Brett Baxter, Andrew Ketchum, Justin Payan and Mike McGee. This is the current feared powerhouse in all of dodgeball and along with Rise and Heat, the class of the Western Region of the United States.
Final Championships:
Elite Open No-Sting National Champions 2019
Elite Open 8.5” National Champions (Runner-up in 2019)
Elite West Coast Series 8.5” Champions 2019
Honorable Mentions:
In such a young sport, there may really be too many to mention (even honorably). Starting off with the women, Ball Busters and Beavers reigned supreme in the Women’s 8.5” division prior to the formations and successes of Pop That and Invasion (when there wasn’t a No-Sting division ) and certainly deserve shout outs with their successes, especially in the NDL.
Money Shot, though no longer active, won the Elite Women’s No-Sting National Championship in 2017 and finished second in 2018. The 2019 “Team of the Year” Finesse, had one of the greatest years ever for a first-year team (although even that outstanding result wasn’t unexpected with their collection of talent). Unfortunately they could not finish the season healthy and were unable to capture any National Championships, despite winning Elite West Series Championships in both No-Sting and Foam.
On the men’s side of things, the other “Team of the Year” for 2019, Heat, missed the list due to its short three-year history, even though no team won more divisions and tournaments in 2019, including the 2019 Elite Open 8.5” National Championship.
In the North, Kraken deserves a shout-out for being one of the perennial best Pinch teams and winning the 2016 North Region Pinch Series (also finished runner up in the Elite Pinch National Championship of 2019). Task Force (Unicorn) has been around since the beginning of Elite and were very close to earning the first Elite Pinch National Championship before losing a heartbreaker to Doom. Still, they won the Elite North 8.5” Series in both 2014 and 2015. Boosh also deserves acknowledgement for being the best Open 8.5” team out of the North these past two years, winning the Elite North Region 8.5” Series both in 2018 and 2019.
In the East, Shootas miss this list because they disbanded. In their peak years, they were battling Doom for the Ultimate Dodgeball Championship in multiple years and winning the Elite East 8.5” Series in 2016.
Finally, prior to the current rule of The Outsiders, Adrenaline Rush was the cream of the crop in the South. Carrying over their NDL experience and success, they crushed the hearts of other South teams for four straight years in the Elite South Division, earning Series Champions from 2014 to 2017. Though they never could capture an Elite National Championship, their dominance of the South can not be ignored.
The Team of the Year
Looking back at the 2010s, The Dodgeball Tribune would like to honor one men’s and one women’s team that (arguably, at least) was the best team of that year, based on overall tournament victories and particularly how well they performed and competed nationally. There is no doubt that arguments could be made for a few teams in certain years, but these are our subjective “Teams of the Year.”
2010 — Not enough Information/tournaments organized/(NDL Fairness)/etc.
2011 — Men’s: Rise Women’s: Ball Busters
2012 — Men’s: Rise Women’s: Beavers
2013 — Men’s: Rise Women’s: Pop That
2014 — Men’s: Doom Women’s: Pop That
2015 — Men’s: Rise Women’s: Pop That
2016 — Men’s: Doom Women’s: Invasion
2017 — Men’s: Doom Women’s: Pop That
2018 — Men’s: Doom Women’s: Invasion
2019 — Men’s: Heat Women’s: Finesse
The Dodgeball Tribune’s Final Note:
The opportunity to produce this publication has been an honor, a privilege and a source of great pride. I’ll admit that it was not easy generating content and it was often a thankless job (also, the pay sucked). Nevertheless, I am so grateful to the many people who made suggestions, contributed articles, helped with the player rankings and were there for sound advice. I am grateful to everyone who read what we produced, to those who loved it and also to those whose opinions inevitably — and understandably differed — from my own. I learned from your feedback, good and bad, and I’d like to say it made the Tribune better. Thank you!
I am forever indebted to my Editor-in-Chief Dan Levine. His expertise and guidance was invaluable to this endeavor and I will cherish his friendship forever. Thank you.
May the greatest sport ever played continue to grow to the highest of heights. Look how far we’ve come!
- Tyler Greer, Founder of The Dodgeball Tribune
- Dan Levine, Editor-in-Chief
