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"We do not consider ourselves a traveling team, however the last six tournaments in which we've participated have all taken place in Phoenix, Arizona, a city about 150 miles north of us. Although (aside from Vegas) we have yet to travel anywhere outside our state's borders a "traveling team" seems suiting.

After driving around the outskirts of Phoenix like a large silver vulture, our SUV, dubbed as the "Evil Mobile" arrived at Apache Junction High School with two minutes to spare. In a hurry, I maneuvered the "Team Evil Wagon" across the grounds of the schoolyard and finally found a vacant car lot. There was a disappointed silence amongst the six of us, as for a moment we began to succumb to the belief that this was yet another let down. However, turning the corner to the Northeast parking lot we saw it was packed with fellow Dodgeball enthusiasts.

We arrived and it was on.

Amongst the local familiar faces like Mike Carrington and the www.azdodgeball.com guys, we saw other familiar faces like Chase, Anthony, Surge and Justin. We were all eager to see each other and secretly harboring feelings of vengeance for our 1st place loss against Team 619 during last year's June 3rd, "Desert Madness" tour stop. We wanted to walk away with the free entry into Vegas but a quick survey amongst the other fourteen open teams told us that it was going to be difficult; a long road to even get to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place brackets.

From noon to dusk the dodgeball teams battled it out with each other. Some teams were new to the sport and others were obvious veterans and the competition was fierce. Stingers were flying with pinpoint accuracy, Blockers protected teammates and the Pros were displaying what it took to make it to the top in the NDL. People were jumping, diving, ducking, twisting while opposing teams made every throw count. Triple A along with Rise of Brutality and All God's People were dominating with Team Evil slowly clawing it's way out of the loser's bracket and fighting for a spot of recognition. To some, it was no surprise when Team Evil managed to overcome Rise of Brutality and All God's People for a shot at the undefeated Triple A but to the other Arizona teams, it was great to see a local champion stand up to the California threat.

As the two titans clashed Team Evil still had some fight left within them and both teams appeared even matched. However brilliant dodging, well timed throws and the speed of Triple A proved them to be the victors this time around. Triple A took home the championship as with the Gold Medal, while Team Evil took home the Silver Medal and All God's People taking the Bronze Medal in the end.

Although we took second place, I believe we've come a long way in actually playing as a team. We stood up to some of the toughest teams in the Nation and we cannot wait to take them on again in Vegas. New friendships were made and there will be more familiar faces to see this time in Vegas 2007.

On the way home, I realized that the Grand Canyon State Games and National Dodgeball League partnership was an excellent union and provided those interested with an excellent day of Dodgeball. It was a great example of how well the NDL works to get people playing and makes us look forward to Vegas that much more. It is my hope to see this kind of "cooperation" take place more and more as this sport continues it's rise."

Steve Damon, Team Evil