Todd Rogers with spikeball equipment. Photo by Hannah Johnson.
Spikeball has entered the field this spring semester, joining the existing slate of intramural sports. The first tournament will take place Friday, March 2 through Sunday, March 4.
Todd Rogers, director of intramural and club sports, said he was pleased to bring the sport to campus for the the first time.
“I’ve played Spikeball before, and it’s a lot of fun,” Rogers said. “I’ve played it in the summers with friends, and it’s always a good time.”
Last fall, a survey was sent to the student body to gauge interest in the addition of any new intramural sports.
Rogers said Spikeball was the second most popular option chosen behind Settlers Of Catan, a strategy board game in which players earn points from trading resources and building towns. Rogers said Catan will be an intramural sport at a future date due to the potential for a large turnout and scheduling conflicts with other sports.
In Spikeball, two teams of two compete with each other by hitting a ball onto a small trampoline. The players bounce the ball back and forth until it hits the ground or someone doesn’t hit the ball off the trampoline. Everybody spikes the ball down onto the net. The first team that scores 21 points wins.
Spiking is not the only way players are able to hit the ball – other techniques are acceptable, Rogers said.
“There’s a little bit of strategy there where some people kind of underhand it and make a soft hit,” Rogers said. “As long as it bounces back off the net, it’s a clean hit.”
Joel Swedlund, executive director of the Student Recreation and Wellness Center, expects people will come to watch the tournament because of Spikeball’s growing popularity.
“I’m always excited to offer more options for our students,” Swedlund said. “I think anything that we can offer that might have additional participants that maybe wouldn’t enroll in another option is always great.”
The Spikeball tournament will be free to attend for students, faculty and staff.
For more information, email Todd Rogers at tnr15b@acu.edu or Joel Swedlund at joel.swedlund@acu.edu.
