Intramural dodgeball has arrived at Iowa State, and students are preparing the best way they know how.

“If you can dodge class, you can dodge a ball,” said Meghan Jensen, junior in psychology.

Many students and said they are looking forward to competing in the sport, which begins Nov. 1, with all games taking place at State Gym. The ISU Anthropology Club is organizing a team called the Folsom Points, whose members plan to take 10,500 years of frustration out on opponents.

“I’m really excited about dodgeball,” said Valerie Mayer, senior in anthropology and secretary of the ISU Anthropology Club. “It will create club cohesiveness.”

Garry Greenlee, associate director of intramural sports and facilities operations, predicts that more than 100 teams will take part in the inaugural season.

“Students have been requesting dodgeball for the last couple years, so we thought we’d give it a try,” Greenlee said.

Greenlee added that intramural dodgeball has been successful at other universities.

“At the other Big 12 conference schools that have incorporated dodgeball it’s proven to be in the top three for popularity among students,” Greenlee said.

Intramural dodgeball battles are held amid the boundaries of basketball courts, just like in many middle school gym classes.

Teams can consist of as many players as desired, but only five competitors for each team take the court at a time. Substitutions are not allowed during a game, but teams can alter their squads between games.

Games have a three-minute time limit. Teams will be scheduled to play in one-hour blocks, with the amount of games each team plays depending on the amount of teams that register.

When time expires, the team with the most players remaining is ruled the winner. If each team has the same amount of players left, a sudden-death overtime period will be played. In sudden death, the first team that hits an opposing player with the ball wins.

A game begins with officials placing the dodgeballs along the center line – four on one side of the court and four on the other. Players line up behind their end line and on the official’s signal, approach the center line to retrieve the balls, officially starting the contest.

Teams may only retrieve the four balls to the right of the center. Once a ball is retrieved, it must be taken behind the end line before it can be thrown. Once this is done at the start of the game, balls do not have to be taken past the end line for the rest of the game.

Elimination occurs in a few different ways. A player is considered out if he or she is hit anywhere on the body except the head. If a ball is thrown and the opposing player catches it, the thrower is out of the game and a teammate of the catcher gets to return. A player is also ruled out if he or she touches the center line.

If a player is hit in the head, he or she remains in the game unless they purposefully moved their head in front of the ball. If a competitor is gutsy enough to move their head in front of a speeding ball, they are still called out of the game.

Dodgeball registration began Oct. 17 and continues through Oct. 29. Interested teams, in both men’s and women’s divisions, can register online at the ISU intramural Web site, http://www.recservices.iastate.edu.