About a year ago, I was introduced to a game called Spikeball by my good friend, Dan Kaler. Spikeball is similar to volleyball except that it is played 2-on-2 and the objective is to hit a ball off a bouncy net so that your opponents are unable to return it. It quickly became the go-to game to play during byes in an Ultimate tournament and after awhile, I bought my own set. I’ve taught a lot of people how to play and fancied myself as one of the better players among my group of friends.

A few weeks into our trip, we found out that there was a Spikeball tournament happening in Santa Barbara when we had planned on being in LA. For the modest price of $10, I signed The Break Side up for the Amateur Division of the All American Spikeball Tournament.

Chris and I arrived just in time for pool play and soon realized that there was no such thing as an Amateur Division. In fact, counting the two of us, there were a total of three people at the tournament that I would consider amateurs. The long and the short of it is that we lost all six games of pool play, most by large margins, and were ousted in the first game of bracket play. You know that kid who shows up to his first Ultimate tournament and thinks he’s hot stuff because he can throw a backhand AND forehand better than all his friends? I have a new-found level of respect and sympathy for that kid.

In any case, here’s some footage of some GOOD Spikeball players. If you think you can keep up with these guys, you’re a better man than I…

The music for this video is by Joe Weber – a man whose house we are currently crashing at. This song is titled “Hammer.” You can check out this and other amazing tracks at https://soundcloud.com/bzukajoe