Two years in, dodgeball newcomer earns Scotland call-up

Jodie Wright had been playing dodgeball for only two years when Scotland called her into the side, and Aberdeen gave her debut the kind of setting that turns a selection into a statement. Wright, from Aberdeen, made her Scotland debut in her home city as the Northern European Dodgeball Championships took centre stage there, with Scotland, Germany and Scandinavia among the teams involved.

Her rapid rise is the clearest sign yet of how quickly a player can move through Scotland’s dodgeball pathway when the timing, coaching and competition structure line up. Dodgeball is still widely recognised through PE lessons and the Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn film that shares its name, but the sport now has a formal international frame: British Dodgeball says it is recognised as the governing body for the UK by the World Dodgeball Federation and the European Dodgeball Federation, while the European federation has included the Northern European Championships in its regional format from 2024 onwards. That kind of calendar gives players more than one route to the top, with regional championships sitting alongside wider international events.

The sport’s development path has also become more visible at the highest level. The first Dodgeball World Cup was staged in Manchester in 2016, and the inaugural event brought together the top eight men’s and women’s teams from 10 countries. For a sport built on speed, anticipation, throwing accuracy, court awareness and communication, that structure matters. A player from another sporting background can translate those instincts quickly, especially when the national program is still broadening its pool.

Scotland’s own setup underlined that point. Dodgeball Scotland appointed Jay Stephen, a former Scotland player who won caps in 2016 and 2019, as its new head coach and invited players to an open trial. The national program also highlighted £3,837 of funding for the NEC Ref Team. That is not the scale of a major professional federation, but it is enough to show an organised, active system that is still expanding its reach.

Dodgeball Scotland also marked Aberdeen as the host nation for the Northern European Championships and featured Wright on posters, putting a newcomer front and centre as the sport pushed farther beyond its old reputation. Wright’s two-year climb did not just reflect talent; it showed how a niche sport can offer a faster route to international representation when the structure is there to catch it.