According to the official website of Spikeball, “if volleyball and foursquare had a baby, it’d certainly be named Spikeball.” The sport, also called Roundnet, is primarily designed to be played by two teams with two players each. Furthermore, the goal of Spikeball is that players need to follow the rules and strike the ball against the net until their opponents are no longer able to return the hit.
Spikeball started gaining popularity after Chris Ruder revived the game. Today, the sport has received a lot of favors from millions of people across the world. Plenty of young people from different countries across the world make up the dedicated fan base of Spikeball.
Can Spikeball become one of the most popular sports in the world? Is there any Spikeball fan base out there? Is it possible for Spikeball to have millions of fans one day? These and more are the frequently asked questions you’ll find answers to as you read through the rest of this post.
Can Spikeball become one of the most popular sports in the world?
There’s no denying that the game of Spikeball isn’t yet where it’s supposed to be. However, with the rate at which people are supporting it, there are high chances that the sport will reach its goals, which is to become the next great American sport, in the coming years.
Spikeball was invented by Jeff Knurek in 1989 – at the time, the sport was called Roundnet. However, due to a lack of good publicity tools, Jeff couldn’t push the sport to become popular.
In 2003, the CEO and founder of Spikeball Inc. Chris Ruder developed an interest in the game after playing with his brother and friends when they were on vacation. His interest in the sport pushed him to research and find out the Roundnet had no patent. He got the sport a patent for $800, revived it, and re-modified some of the rules.
Currently, Spikeball is yet to be recognized by major international multi-sport events, such as the Olympics. However, one cannot overlook what the sport has been able to achieve in the past decade. Achieving over 4 million supporters in several countries is a good sign that the sport will sooner or later become one of the most popular sports across the world.
Here’s why Spikeball can become one of the world’s most popular sports
There are a lot of reasons why Spikeball will sooner or later become one of the most popular sports in the world. First, it’s a physical sport that offers intense gameplay.
Furthermore, because of the intense gameplay and fun that comes with playing Spikeball, the sport has been able to attract players from other sports. An example is Skyler Boles, who is currently one of the best Spikeball players across the world. He’s also Spikeball’s Senior Community Manager and Education Specialist. Boles was a tennis player before switching to Spikeball.
That’s not all; Spikeball is a type of game that can be played virtually anywhere – this makes it a versatile sport. Over time, I’m pretty sure this attribute will play a big role in how the sport will become one of the most popular sports in the world.
Moreover, Spikeball is arguably the fastest growing sport in the United States today. That’s possible because of the sport’s competitive atmosphere and versatility. Spikeball has a community of players, who are keen on making the sport one of the most popular across the world.
The bottom line is Spikeball can become one of the most popular sports in the world. Currently, the sport has received a lot of favors from millions of people across different countries in the world. It’s only a matter of time until major international multi-sport events, especially the Olympics, will start recognizing and featuring the sport.
Is there a Spikeball fan base?
The sport has a lot of people supporting it from different countries worldwide.
As earlier mentioned, Spikeball is a fast-growing sport in the US. It was invented in the United States about 3 decades ago but started gaining popularity a few years ago, after Chris Ruder re-modified it.
In the United States alone, more than 1 million people support and play Spikeball. Millions of people also support the game from Canada and several different European countries, such as Belgium, Germany, and Finland. These people make up the dedicated team of the fanbase of Spikeball.
In an interview with Rob Cressy of Fan Food, Chris Ruder talked about how building the Spikeball Community has been for him and his team. According to Chris, he said everything has been possible because of the word-of-mouth marketing from supporters across the world. Chris, in the interview, also talked about the sport having a dedicated app, where hardcore fans get updates regarding important matches in their region.
Here’s what he said about the app fanbase below:
“Our app audience is still smaller than Instagram, but the engagement is through the roof. Like those are hardcore fans. Those are the ones that are actually going and telling their friends about tournaments. They’re the ones that are spending their hard-earned money getting on an airplane, flying to a tournament.”
Is it possible for Spikeball to have millions of fans one day?
According to the official website, Spikeball already has millions of people supporting it across the world. On Instagram, Spikeball has more than half a million followers. The sport also has fans on its official app, where thousands of people connect and get the latest find pick-up Spikeball games.
With the massive support and word-of-mouth marketing from supporters across the world, certainly, Spikeball will still hit millions of fans across its platforms.
Here’s what the CEO of Spikeball Inc. said regarding the possibility of having millions of fans someday:
“Three years from now, that app audience is going to be crazy big and we’re going to be that much less reliant on that third party.”
