EAST LANSING – Twenty years ago, dodgeball was a sport deemed so irrelevant it landed on the cover of “Obscure Sports Quarterly” and televised on ESPN “The Ocho”. Well, not actually, but the 2004 film, Dodgeball, was the only real mention of the sport outside of middle school gym classes.
However, over the past few years, the sport has caught more attention, specifically at college level.
It isn’t a NCAA-recognized sport, but at the club level there is one club that has dominated the top of the sport and it’s Michigan State.
MSU club dodgeball is currently the No. 1 team in the nation according to NCDA Dodgeball Power Rankings and carries a winning tradition with a history of dominance at the regional and national levels. The club won its conference, the MDC, four times in a row and won national titles in 2023 and 2024.
“I would say we are one of the top teams in the league and we keep it that way by making sure the practices are competitive and go out there and have fun,” said sophomore member Jacob Piniatoglou.
Without a successful football team, some MSU students have taken the claim that MSU is now a “dodgeball school” due to the squad’s national prowess.
For MSU students that would like to get involved, practices at IM Circle on Tuesdays and Thursdays are open to all students to put their dodgeball skills to the test.
The primary way many players found out about the club is through its social media outlets.
“I saw it through Instagram, I saw that they won a national championship my senior year of high school,” Piniatoglou said.” So I did a little bit more research and when I came to State I knew I was going to try out.”
There aren’t many drills to improve dodgeball skills, many players say the best way of getting better is simply playing more.
There is more that goes into making the team than what may be perceived for a collegiate club dodgeball team. The squad watches film of its previous performances to find out what they did right and what they can look to improve upon.
Sophomore Jack Krajewski cleared up some of the common misconceptions when it comes to strategy, as there is more thought that goes into at the higher levels than in the school yard.
“A lot of people don’t realize, I know it's called dodgeball but your first action should always be to catch, so we do a lot of training with that,” Krajewski said.
A large portion of the team comes from other athletic backgrounds, specifically baseball, which is a sport that transfers well to the dodgeball court.
Travel to rival midwest schools and nationals can be expensive for the club, but they have had some help from local sponsors. Recently MSU dodgeball had a fundraiser with Biggby Coffee that donated $1 for every cup of coffee sold.
Globo Gym vs. Average Joe’s may not be the biggest rivalry in the sport, MSU has had many tense battles with nearby Grand Valley State. Club vice president Jack Smith embraces the rivalry.
“GVSU, I think anyone here would tell you that GVSU is our rival, we absolutely smoked them this last game, so that was pretty nice,” Smith said.
On Nov. 4, the club went to Chicago to visit the new Barstool HQ and created content with some of its employees. Michigan State, Ohio State and Grand Valley State competed in a round-robin style tournament to see if the Barstool team could keep up with the best teams in the country.
The college teams made fools out of some of the employees as they did not hold back, creating viral clips as Barstool employees took some brutal shots during the games. The YouTube livestream of the event totalled over 100,000 views, bringing even more attention to the growing sport.
The sport has a hotbed in the Midwest, with most of the top teams hailing from Michigan and Ohio. However, there has been increased growth on the East Coast and in the South. Over the past few months, schools like Alabama, Ole Miss and Maryland have all formed clubs that compete in the NCDA.
MSU’s women’s dodgeball team is also the No. 1 nation. Top player Allie Pohl is preparing to play on the national stage later this month. The senior was selected to Team USA to participate in the North American-Carribean Tournament in Mexico.
“It will be a lot of fun, it’s definitely nerve wracking, it’s my first time on Team USA, so rookie season,” Pohl said.
MSU is off to an 8-0 start to begin the season, which is the best in program history.The club is at the top of the MDC once again and will be in contention for another national title in Columbus, Ohio, in early 2026.