Spikeball. A minute to learn. A lifetime to master.
That’s the pitch OVS history teacher Zach Byars uses to sell the sport of Spikeball to new devotees, and his salesmanship is paying off. Thanks to him, Spikeball mania has hit Ojai Valley School with full force, with daily matches popping up across the campus at all hours, and involving students and teachers alike.
Mr. Byars arrived at the Upper Campus this year to teach world history and United States history, and to reinvigorate the outdoor education program.
But what few people knew about him before he showed up was his almost cult-like obsession with this round-net game, a fast-moving sport that closely resembles two-person volleyball in both its actions and rules.
At every turn, Mr. Byars has served as an ambassador for the sport,
emblazoning the Spikeball logo on headbands and t-shirts and wrist bands. He arrived at Upper with a collection of Spikeball nets, and then set out to sell the sport’s value and virtues with an enthusiasm that is as infectious as it is hard to resist.
“It’s definitely an addictive sport and I’m passionate about it,” said Mr. Byars, who was introduced to the game about five years ago when a friend brought a Spikeball net to his bachelor party weekend in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
On his travels and as part of his previous employment teaching swift water rescue and other outdoor education activities, Mr. Byars has dropped off nets in places around the world including Nicaragua, Panama and Costa Rica.
“I want to help Spikeball catch on however and wherever I can, “ he added. “It’s pretty much unrivaled as far as fast, athletic-based games. You’re right there in the action.”
Interest in the sport derives from how simple yet fun it can be.
The game involves two teams of two players each, with each team getting three hits to pass the ball to its opponent. But unlike two-person volleyball, the hoola hoop-sized Spikeball net hovers just inches above the ground, and players are not restricted to a court, but instead can move anywhere to pass the ball and slam it back to their opponents.
It involves athleticism and agility, but it equally involves strategy and teamwork.
“I love Spikeball,” said junior Kase Skillern, a talented athlete who participates on the school’s cross country, soccer and golf teams. “I play a lot of team sports, but there’s nothing like the sense of accomplishment when you successfully work together with your one partner.”
While the game itself is fun and exciting, Mr. Byars has done his utmost to boost its popularity.
It seems like he always has a Spikeball net on hand. He took one with him on the most recent outdoor education trip to the eastern Sierra Nevada, and brought back photographs of students playing the sport at more than 11,000 feet of elevation.
He broke out a net at the home cross country meet at the Upper Campus, and at student orientation activities at East Beach in Santa Barbara. The sport was a part of opening faculty meetings, and on the all-school camping trips, Spikeball came along.
“I’ve never heard of this sport before I came to OVS,” said freshman Stephanie Nostrant, who has been identified by Mr. Byars as one of the best young players on campus. “It’s been really fun and I hope we can compete more.”
On a nationwide scale, it seems like there’s no stopping the Spikeball craze.
The Chicago-based startup was just named one of the fastest-growing companies in the nation by Inc. magazine, and the business recently won the promise of a half million dollar investment on ABC’s Shark Tank, a reality TV series on which aspiring entrepreneurs pitch their business plans to would-be investors.
According to the official Spikeball website, hundreds of thousands of players in the U.S. take part in the sport, and there are more than 1,500 nationally ranked teams across the country.
Additionally, each year Spikeball enthusiasts stage more than 100 tournaments nationwide, ranging from high-powered competitions on college campuses to less-serious matches in parks and on beachfronts.
The same Spikeball obsession is taking hold at the Upper Campus of Ojai Valley School.
At the annual Spudfest celebration to end the first quarter, teams from the Upper and Lower campuses squared off in an unofficial competition to find the best Spikeball team.
And at Upper on a daily basis, teams regularly test their skills. Teachers join students, and national rivalries have emerged including frequent clashes between the student teams from Germany and Tajikistan.
But Mr. Byars has bigger plans for the sport.
He intends to host a tournament in the spring as a way of introducing students and teachers at other schools to the sport. And when he dreams really big, he imagines a day when OVS and other Condor League schools assemble travel teams to engage in tournament play, and perhaps building enough momentum that Spikeball becomes a Condor League sport.
“In the last two years, interest in the sport really has picked up,” Mr. Byars said. “If support grows on the international level, I can see a day when were talking about Spikeball as an Olympic sport.”
