Manchester Bees Dodgeball

Were back at it, the second league meets see’s some of the Bees firing on all cylinders and some navigating hairpins in the road, but alas we all made it to the destination that is St Georges Park.

The Worker Bees opened up this round against Wessex Wolves, who obviously came in hard hitting to which the Workers struggled to get a foothold in the match and eventually ended up losing 16-8.
The next match was against Thunderdodge which turned out to be a tale of two halves. Workers being 12-2 up at half time, found themselves coasting. Whether it be complacency that set in, they had to fight back and were awarded with a win of 15-11.
MVB for Workers for league meet 2 was Patrick Briars, for his ‘class act on and off court’.

The Queen Bees first match was against non other than their own club mates the honey Bees, a ‘der-bee’ if you will.  The Queens came out with a specific game plan which worked to their advantage, despite some great dings from Imy Young, the Queens took the match 22-2.
Up next was the newly promoted Bedford Rangers, who’ve been making quite an impact in the Super league. Once again, the Queen bees went in with a game plan and stuck to it. A hard fought first half saw the Queens retain a slight lead, managing to  lengthen their win by 15-7 .  Queens have won 4 out of 4 matches and hope to cement their name this season. The Queen Bees MVB was Vic, for being generally excellent all day.

The Soldier Bees first match was against Virtue Empire, the game was mixed and the first half the Soldiers play very well , slightly unlucky to go in at half time drawing 6-6. However Virtue changed tactics and manged to get the win 14-8.  A great game from the men but lots to take away.
The last game was against MK Cyclones which was tough however the Soldiers improved on their single/double ball game. They really came together in the second half and built a solid lead and ‘grinding it out perfectly’.  Soldiers had not one, not two but a triple joint MVB with Paul Brunger, Kevin and Dave Streather, which was a testament to how well everyone contributed through out the day.

As mentioned above it was a clash of Bees at this league meet, with the Honeys taking on the Queens. A lot of trash talk from a certain Honey bees player had set the scene. Once on court it was all down to business, the Honeys played well, using some great fakes and catches, despite loosing it was all hugs afterwards.
Not an easy week, the Honeys second match was against the angsty Bedford Eagles.  Not one to play games the Eagles made accurate hits on the Honeys, but not disheartened the Honeys did some great fast play, taking out a solid number of Eagles players. MVB for this league meet was Rose, who made some excellent catches on court in difficult games.

Lastly we have the Killer Bees. They faced their toughest opponents this season in the undefeated Meteors. After two close tournament matches this season, the men went in guns blazing and hopes high. The sets went back and forth, but Meteors edged away eventually winning 16-8. The second match of the day was against Bedford Rangers. Killers looked strong in the first half, but Bedfords catching was on point and brought the scoreline back close. A very intense last game of 2v2 led to an overall draw. Not the result then men hoped for but they’ll be back stronger for the next meet. MVP for Killers was Ross McGuigan with some excellent dodges and fast play.

Here’s the Bees ladies supporting Movember along with two of our male participants –

If you would like to donate to the cause, please visit our page –

https://uk.movember.com/team/2322769?utm_medium=share&utm_source=dynamic&utm_campaign=copy-clipboard

IT’S BACK! It’s better than ever, it’s the A-Z of Dodgeball!

We first teased you with the A-Z of Dodgeball back in 2017 and we thought it’s been long enough, ladies & gentlemen its the Manchester Bees A-Z (Part 1)

A – AWARDS – Apart from some questionable awards given out on our end of season awards gala, we did stuff this year, including winning ‘Club of the Year’ at Manchester Sports Awards.
B – BUZZ, BUZZ, BUZZ, BUZZ, BEES – You’ve heard it at least once somewhere. No tournament or end of training session would be the same without one…
C – CATCHES – Guess what? They win matches (Bees players are known for making some disgusting takes on the floor of a Dodgeball court)
D – DINGS – Those audacious hits that clip the opponents toes and you just can’t help but shout out with appreciation “What a ding!”
E – EIGHT – At first you might be thinking, eight? But for the first time ever, Bees had eight teams participating at our home open, this included the Killers, Workers, Soldier, Miners, Masons, Queens, Honeys and Ivy Bees (p.s. we’re running out of species!)
F – FLUORESCENT – The Bees kit is considerably brighter than most, almost fluorescent some might say but its great to spot team mates in a crowded hall. 
G – GRIND – A new saying enter the club of ‘grind it out’, not the nicest of sayings but when it’s being shouted at you, you know what you have to do #PestleAndMortar
H – HITS – Whether it’s against the last player standing or the perfect body skimming throw, if you make the hit, it feels good.
I – INJURIES – Like most sports, injuries are part of the package. We’ve had a few incidents this season already, including  one such player falling over their own feet and breaking an arm  (You know who you are!)

Keep an eye out for Part 2, coming to you soon!

The morning of the league was cold but the Bees dusted off their stripes and made the long(ish) journey to SGP.

The morning slots consisted of the Killer Bees playing in the Super League and the Worker Bees in Men’s League 1. The Killer Bees first match was against East Anglia Vikings, a very even game with the scores level all the way. It went to a sixty second set, Bees very own, Aden Woodall making a hit on Scotty Whitelaw winning the set and the match. Killers next match was against Leamington Spartans, with “the greatest first  half ever” dubbed by Aden. The Killers were winning 13-3 however Spartans made some tactical changes and fought back to settle for a draw 13-13.

Next up to play was the Workers. Their first match was against MDL Raptors where they took a win of 16-6. It was some of the best performances put on show by the Workers.  Next they were up against Nottingham Sheriffs  2, where Workers took an unprecedented amount of rebound catches, winning 23-5

Then came Saturday Afternoon, the Soldiers, Honeys and Queen Bees swarmed together at the classic Sainsbury carpark, ready for an hour and a half long journey to the quite impressive St George’s Park.

The Soldier Bees first match was against London Storm 3’s, it was hard fought and unfortunately the Bees came away with a loss, although the match showed highlights from Adam Hameed. The next match was against Bedford Eagles 2nd’s the Bees resilient as ever, came back fighting, ending with a draw of 12-12, a great result for the Soldiers.

It was the beginning of the Women’s Super League for both ladies teams and Men’s League 2 respectively. After a solid block of training (with the exception of the Euros) the Bees felt good going into their first matches of the new season. We had a lot of new faces making their debut’s for the Bees at league and they did not let us down, these included;

Amanda King, Christie Abbatt, Emily Walker, Rose Finney, Adam Hameed, Lewis Diggins, Liam Ryder, Femi Adejumobi, Patrick Briars, Michael Bailey, Jack Halpin & Ryan Foster. (Yes, we did do very well in the transfer window 😉)

The Queens first took on East Anglia Valkyries who kept the Queens on their toes in the first half. But the Bees did not wavier, making excellent hits and catches and calls made by Cesca McCarthy, Valkyries led 6-4 at half time. With the Queens not out of the game yet, they rallied together and played out of their skin to win 12-10, even with Fay Woodall and Emily Walker getting sin-binned for a ‘so-called’ late hit on a EA player. Their next match was against Leeds, you might say an ‘nemesis’ as the Queens had lost twice to them in previous opens by one game. It was on! Queens started off well again, trialling by one game at half time. After a strong half-time talk by Coach Woodsy, the girls upped the aggression and took the win comfortably with a score of 16-8.

After being promoted from Women’s League 1 last season, the Honey Bees were looking to make their mark on the Super League. Their first match was against the also newly promoted Bedford Rangers was tough. Bedford came in with a game plan, playing a rather boring single ball game. Despite losing the match the Honey Bees showed signs of what they are capable of, with some excellent timed counters and catches. Their next match was against  a very tough opponents in Nottingham Sheriffs. The ladies played well in the first half, with Imy Young making some fantastic catches alongside Kate Wood and Lucy Collins and some absolute toe dings by Sian Ellis. The ladies may of lost but with some more training behind them for meet 2, they can most certainly become the comeback kids.

The Bees will continue with their training over the coming weeks and look forward to the next league meets.

See you next time for more updates!

Bees Blog 🐝