About Us.
The International Dodge Ball Federation (IDBF) was founded by Rusty Walker of Gulfport, MS in 1996 and had a web presence in 1997.
The Federation began as a way to make the children Rusty played dodge ball with feel as though the game was a real sport instead of a schoolyard pastime. Within weeks of putting up the website, emails from around the world began arriving daily asking where to play and expressing interest in becoming members of the IDBF. Within months the IDBF became a 'real' organization and began sanctioning tournament play around the world.
Around 1998, the IDBF formed rules and equipment committees to find better, safer ways to play the sport. Hundreds of balls were examined and a ball was specified for play. The ball used for play is very light (about 7 oz), about 8 inches in diameter, has a butyl bladder, is inflated with very low pressure (2 lbs) and is covered with a fabric to avoid stinging.
The IDBF rules committee was tasked with taking the hundreds of different ways that people played the schoolyard game and boiling them down into a sport with a concise set of rules that ( 1) was safe and (2) was quantifiable- (meaning , it had to be able to be officiated with a high degree of accuracy). Having defined rules of the game was necessary in order to re-introduce this 'revised' and organized sport back to schools and the public.
In 2003, the IDBF incorporated and hired a full time executive director tasked with league development. The IDBF has dodge ball federations in several countries and state organizations in about a third of all US states. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated the Mississippi Gulf Coast, the home of the IDBF, and both organization and expansion efforts were damaged; however, currently, the IDBF is well on it's way of having organizations in all 50 states by the end of 2013 and a projected 300,000 sanctioned players by the end of 2012, if not sooner.
In 2011, Rusty Walker placed Hunter Teel in charge of IDBF in order to further expand, organize and enhance dodge ball. Hunter is a 2010 graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi, a life long tennis player, a black belt in Karate, a lover of games, as well as an avid sports fan. Hunter hopes to take dodge ball to new levels of popularity.
Rusty, Hunter and IDBF wants you to start having fun and dodging some balls, so give us a call.
Hunter Teel
(347) 640 4323
Gulfport, MS 39507.