Located at Gilbert Regional Park, a group of high school students meet up to participate in a series of spikeball competitions amongst themselves. Two Perry students Sophomore Maddisyn Jolley and  Sophomore Parker Halbison commenced this tradition as a way to get together with their friends in a fun yet competitive environment. 

In the midst of COVID, a bit of safe socialization is a great way to pass time in quarantine. 

With this school year being abnormal due to COVID restrictions, it has been disappointing and difficult for students. However, outdoor activities are a great method to cope with the challenges that have been presented by COVID. Therefore creating an activity where said students can go out and let go of their worries by enjoying some fun with friends seems very unproblematic.

“Some reasons we started these tournaments was, we joined a huge spike ball tournament at Newport and it was super fun so we decided to play for fun at Regional when we can. Most of us are volleyball players anyways so afterwards we will play volleyball,” Halbison said.

Conveniently, they found a park that suits their expectations for spikeball games. Regional Park provides sand courts where they can recreate the beach like sand and bring a more challenging factor into their game. 

“We love going to the new Regional park to play on their sand volleyball courts so then diving for the ball has a softer landing… we have a lot of fun and it gets pretty competitive,” Jolley said. 

They choose this sport in particular because it is something that they all thoroughly enjoy doing in their free time. This group of friends have a love for volleyball as well and use the two sports they love to grow closer to one another. 

“We started to play spikeball at the park and do championships because we just wanted to play spikeball as a friend group. We’ve played spikeball for a while and we all love playing it,” Sophomore David Olson said. 

Although this group of individuals meet outside of school hours, they have considered fabricating a club on Perry’s campus to get more people involved. These spikeball tournaments are not just for the social aspect; throughout time this group of individuals have learned how to work together as a team, combine forces, and feed off of each other’s skills. 

“I would be interested in starting a club. Spike ball is super fun and it would be nice to have a club for it,” Halbison stated. 

A friendly competition in the park gives individuals something to do and take their minds off the problematic school year.