Graham and Kauffman, meanwhile, have known each other since high school, when they played field hockey, basketball and soccer together. "It was also my fiancée's graduation, but she played collegiate volleyball at a really high level, so she understands sacrificing some things to go play a sport you really like and you're good at." "My mom was a little bummed," Showalter said, chuckling. How dedicated are they to the sport? Well, Showalter skipped his college graduation ceremony at Asbury University in Kentucky to compete in Lancaster. But the duo paired up for a tournament in New York two years ago and quickly realized they made a very good team. Cisek was teamed up with another friend, while Showalter played with his brother. We said we want your feedback, where do you want to see a tournament take place? And Lancaster just went above and beyond in showing interest."Ĭisek and Showalter began their roundnet careers playing with other partners. "We were going to do a tournament in we did one there in 2017, a more urban-populated area. "We've done a few tournaments in Lancaster," said Scotti, the Spikeball director. A few rows of stands were set up in front of the main net, where the showcase matches took place. Dozens of Spikeball nets dotted the grass, where competitors and spectators could warm up or play games on their own. The May 5 event in Lancaster was held on a large field behind an elementary school. Any given day you might have 20-plus people playing pickup in a park somewhere." We have a couple hundred people as part of our Facebook group. There's tons of parks to play in, and the weather's pretty good year-round. "The Amish and Mennonite community are really into volleyball, so a lot of that population really caught on," Graham said. "Practice is easy when you have a big group of people playing around you and you can get good players to play with you." "There's a huge group here that plays," Cisek said. (The other half is 21-year-old Ohio native Peter Jon Showalter.) Tyler Cisek, 22, half of the current men's national champion duo, is from Long Island, New York, but spends many weekends in Lancaster. Becca Graham, 23, and Alli Kauffman, 22, are both from the small city in Pennsylvania Dutch Country. Well, in part, it's because some of the top roundnet players hail from the area. For instance, the Coney Island event was started by Jack Scotti, now director of the Spikeball Roundnet Association, and some friends back in 2013, well before he was hired by Spikeball.īut the first stop in the East region was in Lancaster, which begs the question: Why? The 2018 Spikeball Roundnet Association Tournament Series includes events in several major cities across the United States, from Boston to San Diego. Headquartered in Chicago, Spikeball says it now has more than 4 million players worldwide. Today, the game has grown to feature tournaments all over the country. And the objective is the same: Hit a shot that the other team can't return. Teams can still take three touches at a time - for a bump, set or spike - just like in volleyball. It's similar to two-player volleyball, except instead of hitting a large ball over a long suspended rectangular net, players hit a smaller ball down into a circular net very low to the ground. In 2013, it hit $1 million in annual revenue, and Ruder quit his corporate job to work on Spikeball full time. Spikeball was originally a side business for Ruder, who ran it out of his basement for five years. It was reborn in 2008, when current Spikeball CEO Chris Ruder acquired the brand and relaunched it, greatly aided by appearing on an episode of ABC's "Shark Tank." Those words are taken from the Spikeball website, but the sport is technically called roundnet, and it has been around since the late 1980s. It's the latest step forward for "the next great American sport." It was the second Spikeball competition to air on ESPN, following an event in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in early May. SummerSpike 2018 was held there on Saturday, just a few days before Joey Chestnut & Co. You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browserĬoney Island is famous for being the home of the Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest, but maybe one day it will be known for hosting another summertime event as well.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |