Academy Spikeball Tournament
Spring has come into full swing and across campus, groups of students can be found dragging yellow Spikeball sets onto the quad. The warm weather invites Exonians to set up the familiar black-and-yellow nets and bounce a spikeball back and forth with friends. Grassy quads, breezy weather and quick rounds of the iconic game are familiar memories in the minds of many Exeter students. However, a new competitive aspect of Spikeball has recently been introduced.
Once considered a leisurely activity, this year’s “Spikeball season” has incited competition for the first time amongst dozens of teams, all battling for coveted prizes. Within two brackets, Exonians found themselves either competing in Spikeball games or cheering on their peers participating in the long-awaited competition, with both lowerclassmen and upperclassmen agreeing that competitive spikeball is an exciting addition to the community.
Recently the Academy’s Student Council organized a Spikeball tournament headed by senior Cooper Walshe. Within the tournament, there were two different brackets in order to encompass the high volume of participants, giving everyone a fair chance at a prize. The rookie bracket was for beginners to Spikeball, including those who understood the rules but were not excellent players yet. The pro bracket was created for teams whose players were both confident in their Spikeball abilities and had extended experience with games. Senior Morgan Johnson and upper Matt Indeilicarto won the pro bracket of the spikeball tournament. Seniors Christian Hall and Ibrahim Ahmed won the rookie bracket.
Walshe explained more differences between the pro and rookie brackets of the tournament. “For the rookies, we did short and easy serves. For the pros, we ran the same rules that professional spikeball players use,” Walshe said.
As any tournament should, first, second and third place teams from each bracket received prizes. In the rookie bracket, first place got an order from any local restaurant, second place got a large Stillwells ice cream and third place got a small Stillwells ice cream. Within the pro bracket, first place got a Spikeball set and order from a local restaurant, second place got an order from a local restaurant and third place got a large Stillwells ice cream.
The finals of the tournament took place on Sunday April 18th, 2021 and many more teams participated than those who won prizes. “We had 36 teams in the Rookie bracket and 45 teams in the pro bracket. This came out to around 83 games. I'd say probably 50% seniors, 20% uppers, 15 % lowers, and 15% preps,” Walshe said. Although the finals wrapped up the tournament on the Sunday afternoon, students played matches for weeks prior.
Amongst competition for the best prizes, students found that they still valued each other’s company and the memories made while playing even more than a large cup of Stillwell’s ice cream. Bonding over a spikeball net and playing games with your closest friends, were a common theme that participants shared over the course of matches.
Senior and participant Emilio Abelmann was also a spectator at the event and enjoyed seeing the different brackets. “I love the game of Spikeball and have thus been playing since prep year, but it was also nice to see beginners have a chance to play at a competitive level via the Rookie Bracket,” he said. “[It was] super fun. I had a great time interacting with the other teams while simultaneously testing my Spikeball skills.”
Senior and participant Lucas McEachern appreciated the sense of community that playing Spikeball brought to campus. “I had a great time playing Spikeball in the tournament. It was so fun to play with and against all my friends, dress up (in our uniforms) and organize all the handshakes and celebrations that we came up with,” McEachern said. “I didn't know what Spikeball was until I came to PEA, but it's such a good way to have fun, meet new people, and just get closer with the people you play with.”
“I love getting out of a practice, or game and being able to relax and play spikeball with my friends. Especially since the days have begun to get warmer and the sun sets later, playing under the sunset with music, is so much fun,” spikeball player and prep Caroline Shu said. “Although my partner and I didn't make it past the first round, there was never any negative energy, and everyone was always so encouraging.”
Though most participants had fun, some believed the competitions could have been scheduled differently. “9/10 would have been 10/10 if it was on Saturday instead of Sunday. Other than that the brackets needed some balancing but it was fun,” spikeball player and senior Morgan Johnson said.
“The knockout rounds were intense because one game settled it. The turf in the rink made diving for balls much easier though and I had a lot of fun doing that,” senior and finalist in the tournament Matt Ngai said.
Lower Sami Smith noted the planning of the tournament. “The spikeball tournament was super fun. It had a competitive element and it was really cool to see teams work really hard to win their games. It was also super organized which was very helpful and everyone was a good sport about winning and losing.”
The tournament bore a light competitive spirit among many of its participants. “A memorable moment was our first game of the tournament against Fawaz Omidiya and Caroline Shu. I encourage anyone to reach out to Fawaz about the result of the game,” player and senior Robbie Stankard said. “Big thanks to Cooper for pulling it all together and organizing it for us. It was a really fun event.”
Walshe concluded on how the Spikeball tournament contributed to the community as spring blooms during a new term. “The tournament has gone really well. There haven't been any tears yet, which is an improvement from the dodgeball tournament a couple of weeks ago. Besides seeding the teams differently, there isn't really anything I would change,” Walshe said.
