Spiking into a new season

Northview’s Spikeball club seeks to expand the sport throughout the state

Photo by Kevin Xiang, Copy/Multimedia Editor

Kevin Xiang, Copy/Multimedia Editor, Disha Kumar, Editor-in-chief

On Dec. 10, 2022, the Northview Spikeball Club co-organized a tournament, a step in what will hopefully lead to Spikeball, formally known as roundnet, becoming a Georgia High School Association (GHSA) sport. About 50 players turned up and played each other in the club’s first major event: its tournament at Perimeter Church.

“It was very well organized,” junior Matthew White, who played in the tournament, said. “The only problem is that the ground was extremely wet, but [the organizers] can’t control that. They were playing some good music as well.”

Senior Luke Marshall founded the club in 2019 and is now looking to expand it. He hopes to form an official roundnet team, as well as a league with other schools, this semester. The recent tournament at Perimeter Church offers a promising lookout.

“Around 50 people from a bunch of different schools attended, and I think that's a good reflection of some of the interest [in the sport],” Marshall said. “Considering how much fun the tournament was both to organize and to play, I want that to be the consistent theme throughout both the team and the league.”

The tournament saw teams from across Georgia. The team that won the tournament was from The Lovett School, and the tournament itself was also cohosted by Greater Atlanta Christian School.

“I hope we play more because, when we play more, we can see other kids from around the schools,” White said.

That hope could come true soon. The Spikeball club is looking to have the GHSA sanction roundnet as a sport. To that end, Marshall has been reaching out to other schools, getting existing Spikeball clubs on board, and looking for individuals who might start a team at schools that do not have one. 

“For now, what we want is as an amateur league for high school students in the Georgia area, where we meet up have these tournaments,” James Byun, who helped Marshall organize the tournament, said.

Marshall hopes to organize a team that will have regular practices to play in that league. Building those connections would not only set the groundwork for a GHSA sanction but also strengthen one of the core parts of the sport: the community.

At Northview, the Spikeball club has always been built on the pillars of friendship and fun. Marshall originally learned about the sport from his church and quickly invited many of his friends to play with him, especially those on the cross country team. 

“We played after school wherever we could, and we weren't an official club,” Marshall said. “Nobody was very good at the time, but it was a lot of fun.”

That spirit has carried through to the present. The club has been continuously expanding with members inviting their friends to join.

“Sometimes we have kids from other schools that we're friends with, and they come to Northview to come to play roundnet with us,” Byun said.

That community will continue to grow. The club has plans to host another tournament on Jan. 28, 2023. It will also be hosting an interest meeting for the roundnet team on Jan. 25, 2023.

“[The team] is open for anybody who wants to join, so don't think that it's exclusive or you have to be good or have even ever played roundnet before to join,” Marshall said. “Roundnet is a very fun sport and should be enjoyed by everyone, and I'm just excited for how things are going to shake out.”