Every Tuesday during lunch, the Spikeball Club attracts up to 40 students to the practice field or turf. Whether competing in “league games” or just playing for fun, students enjoy having the freedom to play the sport that has taken the school by storm.
Spikeball being played as a sport has become popular in recent years, and the club has found immediate success this year. The club has been highly successful compared to other student-led clubs. The club’s meetings have grown to be heavily attended and well-liked, strongly due to the leaders of the club, who participate and play spike ball themselves. At the meetings, all students are welcome and able to make new friends by playing spike ball. On most Tuesdays or Thursdays, students can play during lunch thanks to seniors Grady Sellman, Victor Poosuntisumpun and Sachin Bijlani who run the club.
The leaders of the club said their main priorities are the devoted members, including their friends. Thus, the main goal for the club at the beginning of the year was to provide “fun activities and special events,” Poosuntisumpun said.
The club schedules and shares their events with other clubs to increase their popularity. Recently, the club had an event with the French, Spanish and Chinese honors societies to celebrate the holiday of Mardi Gras. The event saw appearances from all grades. Sophomore Nathan Zweig shows up at Spikeball Club weekly and always enjoys it. “Spikeball Club is always fun because I can hang out with my friends while competing with them at lunch,” Zweig said.
Last fall, right before winter break, the club hosted a tournament for all students. That tournament earned an abundance of positive feedback and was reportedly fun for both the players and spectators. Junior Max Podlensy loves the game of spike ball and lives for the competition. “It was cool to see the big crowd around most of the games and it was cool for the club to have done that,” Podlensy said.
The club was rebuilt to help students connect through their athletic abilities and shared love for spike ball. The increase of kids attending the club’s events is appreciated by the club presidents. “The rise in popularity has been great to see, we love to have all the kids come and play spike ball with beaming smiles,” Bijlani said.
The club plans to host more tournaments before the school year finishes. The heads of the club will be proposing the idea of more events with other school-wide organizations. “There will be upcoming tournaments and collaborations with SGA for the spring project,” Sellman said.
As for running the club, the three seniors have had their struggles while they hosted their initial tournament. Navigating the sign-ups was a challenge and “keeping up with the bracket was hard too,” Bijlani said.
Throughout that, they still found a way to finish off the games and announce a winner. The leaders have had their turn to run Spikeball Club and are now in search of new leaders to carry on their traditions for the years to come.
