England’s Dodgeball teams triumph and inspire at #EuroDodge2013

PRESS RELEASE

What a weekend for English sporting glory! The stars of UK Dodgeball demonstrated with top performances at the European Dodgeball Championhips why the sport has become one of the most popular and fastest-growing in the UK.

Both the England men’s and women’s teams won their respective competitions to take all the honours against tough competitors from countries such as Sweden, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The fabulous sporting festival was held at The Cheshire County Sports Club and supported by the UK Dodgeball Association’s sporting partner, coaching company A-Star Sports, whose children kept the play flowing as ball returners throughout the tournament.

The fun started on Thursday (August 22) with an intensive training day for the England teams, including A-Star Sports ambassador Alex Harrison, 23, from Gloucester, dodgeball player and coach with the England Lions.

The MP for Chester, Stephen Mosley, who has recently been appointed Small Business Ambassador for the North West and North Wales by the Prime Minister, also attended, and sportingly joined in the Dodgeball activities with A-Star Sports’ children.

Then came the two days of fierce competitions (August 24 and 25) in which the teams from around Europe battled it out in “the game where you are the target”, which is continuing to gain in popularity across Europe with 18 teams competing in the men’s and women’s tournaments.

The outstanding sporting performances were cheered on by A-Star Sports children who were both inspired by and in awe of the players who supported them in their lunchtime demonstration matches and signed autographs on their shirts.

Sharon Bassett, A-Star Sports co-founder and coach, said: “The tournament has really inspired the next generation of Dodgeball players and their families have been delighted to have been involved. The players from many of the teams – the home nations and Sweden in particular – really took the time to genuinely involve the children in the tournament, providing amazing role models and a sporting occasion they’ll remember for a very long time.”

On the Tuesday following the championships (August 27), A-Star Sports worked in partnership with the UKDBA to provide a Dodgeball event for Under 13s, again at  The Cheshire County Sports Club, which was attended by more than 60 children.  The event was also attended by international dodgeball representatives, Daniel Malik and Nicola Studeny, in order to share good practice prior to next year’s European Dodgeball Championships in their home country of Austria.

Martin Knight, the manager of the England Lions, said: “What a fantastic festival. What wonderful days of sport, not only for the players and fans from all over Europe, but for the A-Star Sports children and their families as well.

“Everyone in the organisation appreciates the opportunity to bring Dodgeball to children in a widespread, accessible and exciting way.  It’s fantastic for the England teams to work with younger children and really show them the benefits of playing Dodgeball both for fun and competitively.”

The UKDBA liaises with the United Kingdom Sports Council, Sport England, the Sports Council for Wales, the Sports Council for Northern Ireland and Sport Scotland to ensure it exceeds their expectations of Dodgeball and maintains its status as a recognised sport.

A-Star Sports offers multi-sports coaching for children from two years old to 10 through weekly classes, holiday clubs, parties and events.  Dodgeball is one of ten core sports the company is committed to coaching.

See our full photo albums:

• A-Star Sports ‘ball returner’ team at #EuroDodge2013
• England Dodgeball – teams’ training day 1
• England Dodgeball – teams’ training day 2