Rules

Salvation Army Dodgeball Rules

Starting the game:

• Balls will be placed evenly on the half-court line at the start of the game.
• Players will line up at their respective baselines.
• A referee will be at their starting positions at half court.
• On the head referee's whistle, teams will sprint towards half court to retrieve balls. Balls must reach a team's baseline in the possession of a player before they can be thrown.
• No sliding, or use of feet to retrieve balls.

Getting Out:

• A player is out when they are directly hit by a ball (unless the ball is caught by the player or if a teammate catches the ball in the air).
• A player is out when their “blocking ball” is knocked out of their hand. You can hold a ball to deflect other balls but when a player's ball is knocked loose by a direct hit and not caught, that player is out.
• A player is out when they step over the half-court line (the same line where the balls are placed at the beginning of the game).
• A player is NOT OUT if someone catches their ball UNLESS the opposing team’s jail is empty. When a team’s jail is empty, the throwers from the opposing team are out when their balls are caught. For every catch something must happen; if there is a player in jail and a ball is caught that player returns to the game, but if a ball is caught and no one is out then the player who threw the ball is out.
• Team catches are instances when a player is hit, and that player's teammate catches the ball before it becomes dead. If a player is hit and their teammate catches the ball in the air NOTHING HAPPENS the hit player is not out and no one else comes in.

Getting In:

• When a player makes a catch, one player from their jail comes in. All catches must be made “on the fly”. For instance if a ball hits a players hand then bounces off the wall then is caught, that is not a catch and that player is out. Also, catching a ball after it hits another ball does not count as a catch.

Jail Procedure:

• When a player is ruled out, they will be added to the end of the jail.
• The jail is a line that is to the side of the basketball court. When another player is out, they are added to the end of the line. The oldest player in jail (will be nearest to half court) will return to the game when their team makes a catch.

Game Restrictions:

• When there is one person left on each team (a 1 on 1 situation where all other players are in jail) the last two players are allowed to jump over the half-court line and charge each other.