Although Spikeball has been around since the late 1980s, the game has only started rising to global popularity in recent years. Currently, the sport is being played by over 4 million people from across several different countries in the world. Some of the countries include the USA, Germany, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Spain, Denmark, and Ireland.
Even though Spikeball is a fast-growing sport in the US and several other countries in the world, this doesn’t mean the sport is professional. A sport is said to be professional if its players get paid for their performance. However, that’s yet to be the case for the game Spikeball.
Is Spikeball a very competitive sport? Is Spikeball a professional sport? Is Spikeball an official sport? These and more are the frequently asked questions that you’ll get answers to as you read through the rest of this article.
Is Spikeball a Very Competitive Sport?
Spikeball is a type of sport that offers its players tons of fun. The game primarily requires two teams with two players each. Since that’s the case, you can always play the game with your friends on the beach or indoors and have a lot of fun.
But apart from being fun to play, is Spikeball also a competitive sport? Before going ahead to address this question, let me start by talking about what competitive sport means.
A competitive sport, as defined in this study, is a type of sport that offers full play to the athletic ability of an individual or a team. Furthermore, this kind of sport can also be defined as a game that requires special training and competition, with the aim of achieving outstanding achievements. Now that you have a clear understanding of what competitive sport means, let’s go back and address the burning question of whether or not Spikeball is a competitive sport.
Yes, Spikeball is a competitive and physical sport. The game, as earlier mentioned, requires two teams with two players each. Here’s how the game is played;
It all starts with opposing teams line up across from each other with the roundnet placed in between them. After that, one player from team 1 is expected to make a point serve while another player from team 2, called the receiver, is expected to stand anywhere around the net. However, other players are only expected to stand 6 feet away from the net until the ball has been served.
As previously mentioned, Spikeball is a physical and competitive sport; here’s why below:
As soon as the server hits the ball against the wall, the receiver is expected to defend the ball by only touching it up to three times and hitting it back as hard as possible. This simple rule requires a lot of effort, including hands-to-leg coordination, from the players. That’s not all; the move also needs the players to move back and forth, sometimes in 360 degrees.
Spikeball is competitive because it requires both teams to be on top of their game, and avoid losing points to each other. It’s physical because it involves a lot of workouts, which helps the players to burn tons of calories from their bodies. Furthermore, the game can also be called competitive because it usually involves playing college tournaments and winning prize money at the end of each competition.
Is Spikeball a Professional Sport?
I’m sure you’ll agree with me that “profession” is another word for a paid occupation. Since that’s the fact, it’s safe to say that a professional sport enables its players to get paid for their performance.
That said, a professional sport can be defined as one in which athletes receive payment for playing the game. Is that the case for Spikeball?
Spikeball is, no doubt, a fast-growing sport across several different countries in the world. However, today, the game is most popular among high school and college students.
College players, irrespective of the type of sports involved, aren’t considered to be professional players. That’s so because they aren’t employees. They are only chosen to represent their schools, get more experience, and improve their games
Recently, the US government talked about passing a bill that would make college athletes employees. If this happens, it means every college athlete in the US who has an athletic scholarship would be considered an employee.
Unfortunately, this will have a great effect only on other sports but not Spikeball. That’s so because Spikeball doesn’t currently offer scholarship support of any kind.
So, the bottom line is that Spikeball isn’t a professional sport. Its players don’t get paid yet for their performance. Instead, they only go to competitions and tournaments. Any team that wins the tournaments will earn prize money, which usually comes from their sponsors.
Is Spikeball an Official Sport?
Not all sports are considered to be official. One of the few factors that determine whether a sport is official or not is the body regulating it.
That said, a sport is considered official if it’s governed by the international sports federation or other respected organization. If it isn’t official, there’s no way it can make it to the Olympics, which is the leading international sporting event in the world.
So, does Spikeball have a governing body? Yes, the International Roundnet Federation (IRF) is the non-profit, international governing body for the game of Spikeball. According to the IRF official website, the organization says it aims to improve the Spikeball game by “building an infrastructure for the international competition that’s in line with the Olympic model.”
That said, Spikeball is certainly an official sport.
Several countries, including the US, Canada, and Belgium, and Germany now host championships for the roundnet game. The game, if able to meet up other criteria listed by the Olympics committee in the coming years, should make it to the leading international sporting event. That, of course, is what the IRF is on the mission to accomplish.
