Using just a trampoline and a small ball, the fast pace logistics of Spikeball add a competitive twist to the combined sports of volleyball and four square.
Spikeball has been sweeping the globe and the University of Wisconsin-Platteville is joining in on the movement, as two students are well on their way to making Spikeball an official club sport at UW-Platteville.
UW-Platteville Spikeball Club co-founders Kyle Onesti and Adam Gagliardi, both juniors and mechanical engineering majors, are responsible for the new club after Gagliardi played Spikeball for the first time this past June.
He introduced the sport to Onesti, who then got the ball rolling by getting an advisor to help assist in assembling the club team.
“Everyone that tried Spikeball for the first time had lots of fun and loved it,” Gagliardi said.
The ball is an orange, circular ball, approximately the size of one’s palm.
According to the popular media company, UrbanDaddy Enterprises, “A taut Hula Hoop-sized net is placed at ankle level between a pair of two-player teams. You smack the palm-sized ball down on the net so it ricochets up at your opponents. They have three hits between them to control it and bounce it back to you. When they miss, you score.”
The game is played 360 degrees around the net. This means that after players serve, the four competing players can go anywhere around the net and the game is finalized once one team reaches a total of 21 points.
When finished, the whole set fits into a drawstring backpack for easy transportation.
The game was invented in the early 90s, but had been discontinued before a group of seven family members and friends decided to restart the product in the 2000s.
The game was originally marketed and designed as a beach sport, but on the official website, www.spikeball.com, you can see people all over the globe playing it in many different climate settings: snow, rain, outdoor and indoor.
Onesti and Gagliardi even discussed spicing things up and playing the game on the racquetball courts.
This could add a whole new element to the game by enabling athletes to play the ball off of the walls.
As of now, the coed club team consists of nine official members.
Also, the UW-Spikeball Club has created a Facebook page that consists of 38 interested athletes and counting.
With no limit to the number of club members or participants, and no experience required, Onesti and Gagliardi encourage anyone and everyone to join the club.
“We are open to anyone playing. We have done a very good job of including everyone that shows up to play,” Onesti said.
Both founders make sure to explain the rules when new members and participants join.
The future of the UW-Platteville Spikeball Club looks bright as Onesti and Gagliardi intend on getting as many members as possible in order to host tournaments open to club members and UW-Platteville students while they work to become an official club through student governance.
They have been in contact with www.spikeball.com about potentially getting free Spikeball sets for the club, as www.spikeball.com is the only place where one can purchase an official game set.
If you are interested in joining the UW-Platteville Spikeball Club Team, you can contact Kyle Onesti at [email protected] or Adam Gagliardi at [email protected], or visit their Facebook page, UW-Platteville Spikeball.
For more information about Spikeball the sport, visit www.spikeball.com.
