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Surrey Dodgeball League celebrates 10 seasons

The Surrey league has grown from ten to 64 teams in the past five years
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Pete Decker (left) steps into a throw during Surrey Dodgeball League action on Thursday, March 15 at Ecole Riverdale Elementary in Guildford. (Photo: Trevor Beggs)

Trevor Beggs, Now-Leader contributor

SURREY — Ray Bruno had never played sports in her life, until she decided to join dodgeball.

“I’ve only been playing year for less than a year and now, I don’t think anyone plays more than I do,” she said.

The 23-year-old is probably right, as she spends four days a week playing for nine dodgeball teams.

Most of those teams she competes with are in the Surrey Dodgeball League (SDL), which is approaching their 10th season of play this spring since being created by dodgeball-enthusiast Kevin Vo in 2013.

See also: SURREY DODGEBALL LEAGUE: Your childhood game wasn’t this intense

“I used to play in the Vancouver Dodgeball League,” said Vo. “I was 20 at the time and I was going down there four or five times a week. Unfortunately, life gets busy as you get older and I didn’t have the time to commute out there every night.”

Vo then decided to start hosting drop-in dodgeball games in Surrey, which swiftly gained interest. Soon after, the regular drop-ins formed a ten-team league.

The SDL hasn’t stopped growing since.

There are now 64 teams in the league, however, a recent partnership with the Langley Dodgeball League means that 92 teams compete with each other at different levels.

It keeps Vo incredibly busy outside of work, but he continues to help entrench his league into the community.

“I work Monday to Friday and other than that, most of my time is devoted to SDL,” he said.

“Aside from organizing games, we do lots of charity and social events. As we grow we want to keep getting involved with the community.”

Vo has helped organize charity events for the Surrey SPCA, the Surrey Food Bank, the Surrey Christmas Bureau and the Surrey Hospital Foundation. The SDL also hosts pub nights to fundraise for the league itself.

“The community is getting bigger, and it’s awesome to be a part of,” said Vo. “A lot of my best friends are a part of this league and I’m always meeting great people.”

“It’s the first time I’ve been part of a community like this,” said Bruno. “I’ve met my best friends in the league even though were from all different places and different backgrounds.”

Bruno believes that the Surrey Dodgeball League is so enticing for newcomers because everyone is welcomed with open arms. And yes, even those who haven’t played a single sport before are welcomed.

“All of the top-tier players are amazing,” she said. “They just want to help out the people that are just starting out. It’s a really inclusive atmosphere and they helped me fall in love with the sport right away.”

Pete Decker, 28, also loves seeing people of all ages out on the court.

“That’s the cool thing about it,” he said. “It’s for everybody. There are 40 year olds out there playing at a high level, so really anyone can play.”

Even though getting pelted by whizzing balls doesn’t sound like fun for some, others find nothing but pure bliss by stepping out onto the dodgeball court.

“You get to throw balls at people, so what better way to let your emotions out?” said Decker with a grin.

“For those 30 seconds that you’re out on the court, you forget about everything,” said Vo. “You go back to your childhood, to the days when you were first playing dodgeball.”

Read more at surreydodgeball.ca.