Spikeball Trend Gains Popularity at Dimond

Every Wednesday lunch, Dimond High students gather in the gym to play Spikeball, a game that is quickly gaining national popularity.

The game is played around a small circular net, with one miniature volleyball that is hit onto the net by teams of one or two. To score a point, a team must bounce the ball off the net so the other team cannot bounce it back.

Math teacher Nate Normandin said, “The trend around the nation has become pretty dang popular.”

Normandin is the teacher-sponsor for the club and has been playing since one of his cross-country runners brought it to a spaghetti feed.

Normandin said, “One of the teammates got a spikeball net and brought it to a spaghetti feed and then I saw it and said okay, I’ll get a couple nets, and brought a couple nets to the spaghetti feeds that year and kids really liked it. And two years later they started a club.”

Senior Cameron Sheldon said, “I think spikeball is a cool sport and everyone should have the opportunity to play it.”

As the co-president of Spikeball Club, Sheldon helps organize the events that bring everyone to the small gym every Wednesday, and put together tournaments for more competitive players.

Sheldon and Normandin now only play once a week at their own club; but Sheldon admitted to playing up to every day per week in the summer.

More professional players have begun to form leagues around the country, gaining so much attention that some of the tournaments are televised on networks such as ESPN or Fox Sports.

Senior Gigi Powelson said that she has “been going since about sophomore year”

And when asked why this club was great Powelson said, “ it’s great that when you don’t really have a lot of classes with your friends, it’s nice that there’s something you can all meet up at.”

Senior Emily Campbell said, “I just don’t wanna go out to lunch … it’s actually fun”

Normandin said, “Last year a lot of people came during lunch time who had never really played before, now it’s just a lot of their friends that come down and play. But they’re pretty competitive.

“It’s just a cool way to enjoy your lunch and get a little competition going against classmates.”

If students do not know how to play, there is no need to worry as there are many members who are always more than willing to help them get down the basics and sharpen their skills.

Even more than competition, however, many others like Powelson and Campbell just want something to break the monotony of the day by getting their heart rates up with their friends. Kids who may otherwise not meet each other during the year are pitted against each other in friendly competition.

This friendly competition is what draws seasoned Spikeball pros and novices alike to match up and test one another.

Sheldon said, “Basically every week people just show up. It’s a very relaxed club … I’d say about 50 people show up.”

Unlike many other clubs that require a time commitment and a certain amount of quarterly or yearly hours, Spikeball club has nothing like this.

Normandin said, “The club itself doesn’t have a lot of the mandatory things that other clubs require, it’s more just kinda come play and goof around, and I think that’s a big draw for a lot of people that come. Whereas if we had all these requirements not as many would come.”

This easygoing, relaxed feeling can be incredibly helpful for kids going through the stress of the day or even week. A way to blow off some steam and forget about homework for 40 minutes before having to jump back in is a large reason many of the almost 50 weekly people return every time there is a “meeting.”