Spikeball, or roundnet as it is also called, is the sport that is a mixture of the classic schoolyard game "king" and volleyball.
- Spikeball is like volleyball, but instead of hitting the ball above the net, you have to hit it into the net and then hope that the opponents don't have time to save the ball before it hits the ground, says William Oppenheimer to SVT Sport.
The sport originally came from the United States, but in recent years has also become popular in Sweden.
Today, there are around 5,000 people who play spikeball in their spare time.
The first spikeball association in Sweden was founded in Uppsala in 2019, and since then four more associations have come into being, which together today have around 600 members. However, there is still a long way to go for the sport to be taken up in the Swedish Sports Confederation.
- One of the requirements there is to have a geographical spread of around 20-25 associations.
That is where we have the most to do, because when it comes to the number of members in the associations that already exist, we are growing very quickly, says Benjamin Sjöstrand, chairman of the Swedish Roundnet Association and Swedish WC player.
Between September 8-11, the first official Spikeball World Championship will be held in Belgium.
From Sweden, 18 players have qualified, with William Oppenheimer and Benjamin Sjöstrand taking two of the places.
- It feels great to have qualified for the WC and one of my goals is to learn a lot from the world's elite, says Oppenheimer.
- There are two favorite tipped countries where the USA is absolutely the strongest on paper and then Germany is second behind it with the best players in Europe.
After that, it is very unclear and a third place for any Swedish player is not impossible, concludes Sjöstrand.