NCDA ballot results shape 2026 college dodgeball season

The National Collegiate Dodgeball Association’s Ballot Results for the 2026 Season page is more than a housekeeping note. In a student-run league, those ballot outcomes sit right next to the rules that decide how rosters are built, how games are managed and what kind of dodgeball teams will have to play once the 2026 season opens.

NCDA describes itself as the governing body for collegiate dodgeball and, on its LinkedIn profile, says it is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit of dodgeball clubs and student organizations across North American colleges and universities. The league says it was founded on April 9, 2005, when Nationals was first hosted, and its site keeps separate policy and rules pages, a setup that makes the annual ballot cycle a real operating document, not just an administrative formality. The existence of a separate Ballot Results for the 2027 Season page shows the process is part of a regular rhythm, with each round of voting feeding the next year’s competitive structure.

That matters because the votes that usually live inside a policy-and-rules process are the ones that force coaches and captains to adjust before the first ball is thrown. Eligibility rules change who can be on the floor. Season structure changes how programs schedule, train and pace themselves. Tournament format and other governance calls alter substitution patterns, lineup planning and how much depth a roster needs to stay alive late in the year. The teams that benefit most are the ones with organized club pipelines and enough bodies to absorb a rule shift without losing their identity. Programs that rely on a short rotation or a single star have less margin for error.

The on-court stakes were on display at the 2026 National Collegiate Dodgeball Association Nationals, held April 18-19 at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. Michigan State University emerged as the 2026 College Dodgeball National Champions, and NCDA also named Alexis Schultz of Akron and Allie Pohl of Michigan State to the 2026 College Dodgeball Women’s All-American Team. That is the competitive standard the ballot process feeds, because every rules adjustment lands somewhere in the middle of a title chase.

College dodgeball has become one of the fastest-growing sports in club athletics, and Michigan schools have been particularly dominant. In a league that student leaders and alumni still help run, the ballot results are where governance turns into game-day reality, and teams that miss that shift tend to feel it fast.