Spikeball fun

As the springtime weather warms up the Hill, students are venturing outside to the quad during their freetime to play the most popular game on campus: Spikeball. Students need a break from the academic push at the end of the school year and find relaxation and joy through playing Spikeball. Students also recognize the unifying impact Spikeball has on our community and its ability to benefit others, like Brayden Gray ’24 who hosted a recent Spikeball tournament.

Many students like Thomas Pittard ’27, Nicole Tooker ’26, and Caitlin Fearon ’26 enjoy the social aspect of playing Spikeball on the quad with their friend groups. Pittard shares that playing Spikeball “is a fun way to have fun with friends.” Tooker says, “I like playing Spikeball because it’s fun to be with friends outside on the quad.” Fearon agrees: “I like being outside and being with my friends.” While Spikeball is an enjoyable way for friends to spend time together, it also builds new connections between students. Pittard thinks that playing Spikeball is “a fun way to just meet new people.”

While students acknowledge Spikeball’s positive social impact on campus, they have differing opinions on its competitive nature. Fearon says, “I love [playing Spikeball] because it’s definitely competitive.” Liam Yin ’24, who played in the recent tournament, shared: “We were there to win.” He also described the experience as “intense but fun.” Despite his team’s loss, he still enjoyed the competitive atmosphere: “We didn’t pull through, but still had a great time.” Others, like Azikiwe Osakwe ’25, think that Spikeball “gets too competitive sometimes.” He continues: “I enjoy competition but it hurts to lose 11-0 when you’re trying to play casually but the other team is sweating.” Despite Spikeball’s ability to bring students closer together, it also has the potential to push them farther apart.

Not everything about playing Spikeball on the quad is perfect, however. Many students criticize the state of the equipment used to play. Jacob Ceisler ’25 thinks that “there’s not enough working equipment.” On behalf of all the Spikeball-playing students, he says, “We need real Spikeball nets instead of half-broken ones.” Ceisler often plays with Will Davitt ’25 during his freetime, who shares the same opinion. Davitt notices that “a lot of the Spikeball nets are broken,” making it harder to play. The lack of proper equipment also limits the number of people who can play at a time. Davitt adds, “There’s really only two good [nets] right now.” Despite the fun students have playing Spikeball, they want the aging equipment to be replaced.

Students also realize the potential Spikeball’s popularity on the Hill has to benefit both our own community and those in need. Gray said that he hosted the tournament “because as the spring season begins you’ll notice that kids start playing [Spikeball] on the quad. We figured we could capitalize on that and run an organized tournament as a fun and alternative way to raise funds.” He continued that he wanted to use Spikeball’s popularity to raise money for a good cause, sharing that he sought to “support those who were affected by the earthquake that occurred in Japan,” which was a devastating 6.1 magnitude earthquake near the beginning of April. Steven McDonald ’25, who participated alongside Yin, commented: “I think it's very important that students are able to get together and raise money while having fun playing Spikeball at the same time.”

Spikeball has been an exciting and effective way to bring about good on our campus. Gray added that “the tournament was definitely successful.” He also called for even more of the community to join in on the Spikeball fun: “We definitely would’ve appreciated more people signing up as the tournament could always have brought in more people.” While much of the student body already plays Spikeball, there is still room for it to grow and continue having a wide-reaching positive impact.

Although students have many reasons why they enjoy playing Spikeball outside in their freetime, Pittard sums up its simple allure: “It’s just a fun sport.”