ZCZC
BSP-05
US-LEISURE-SPORTS-SPIKEBALL
Spikeball: the US sport coming to a beach or backyard near you
NEW YORK, Aug 20, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – For a game still in its infancy
Spikeball — a beach sport which looks like the love child of volleyball and
tennis — is already making global waves.
The rules are simple: each team of two must bounce a ball slightly larger
than a tennis ball on a flat trampoline-type net 36 inches (91 centimeters)
in diameter: about the size of a hula hoop.
Like in volleyball, a side can touch the ball a maximum of three times.
There are no boundaries, and a point is won when the opposing team fails to
hit the ball back to the net.
In May, and again in July, the US sports channel ESPN2 even broadcast
Spikeball tournaments — and the game has also spread to Europe and Canada.
It was created in the 1980s and original called Roundnet though its precise
origins are unclear.
The concept was reborn in 2007 when a young Chicago entrepreneur named
Chris Ruder began to sell gear for the game from his company named Spikeball.
Last fall he said he sold his millionth net and claims the company, which
generated $15 million in sales in 2017, has since sold hundreds of thousands
more.
“It’s definitely taken off like crazy in the past couple years,” said Steve
Halek, a player at an official USA Spikeball tournament in late July at Point
Pleasant, a seaside resort in New Jersey.
No fewer than 150 teams were registered for this year’s tournament, founded
by Spikeball in 2013.
– ‘Anyone can play it’ –
Spikeball is a game “accessible to everyone. Anyone can play it,” said
Halek.
“There are people that are ridiculously good but you can also play it in
your backyard with your family.”
Halek said that Spikeball is “closer to tennis” than any other sport he
knew, but others have said it also has a dash of Basque pelota and squash.
More than 2,500 teams signed up this season to play in official
tournaments, with the grand finale scheduled for October in Santa Monica,
California, said Jack Scotti, director of USA Spikeball.
Aside from the official tournaments there are hundreds of local tournaments
organized this year with the support of Spikeball, which often contributes
with gear and awards for the winners.
What separates Spikeball from other companies that make the same equipment
is that “we have a community,” said Scotti.
“It’s… exposure and getting people to play the sport,” he said. “We’re
pushing the sport.”
USA Spikeball has even created a “pro” division, though the winner of a
tour event typically walks away with a few hundred dollars of prize money.
USA Spikeball wants to wants to preserve the popular side of sport,
maintaining the festive and informal atmosphere that evokes a holiday camp
for young adults — even though at this point most players are men.
“It’s a game that you can pick up really quickly,” said Scotti. “In one
day, you could be addicted to it.”
Matt Pereira, who competed at the Point Pleasant tournament, described the
game as “really unique,” and marveled that it had “no boundaries. So wherever
the ball goes, the games goes. It’s very free.”
– Still evolving – In Spikeball the angle the ball hits the net and
coordination with your teammate are more important than speed or strength,
players say.
Now that the game is starting to spread the globally, the challenge is to
make sure it is more than just a passing fad.
To this end Ruder is busy organizing tournaments. He is having success at
the college level, and is developing the game in high schools by sending kits
and training PE teachers around the world.
For Scotti, with Spikeball “there’s always this next level, and the game is
still evolving.”
Several players have been calling for the sport to be tweaked to prevent it
becoming just a game dominated by powerful serves, a problem once suffered by
tennis and something that Ruder acknowledges is “not very fun” to watch on
TV.
Rule changes could include loosening the net.
If somehow the game can be played a bit slower, “it could be a sport that
sticks around for a long time,” opined Spikeball veteran Jim Swanson.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0842 hrs