By Hima Manne, Stentorian Staff Writer
NCSSM Spikeball is not for the faint-hearted. It’s a high-stakes battle for pride, glory, and satisfaction of proving absolutely no one can beat your superior reflexes–at least until they do, and then you make excuses.
There’s an art to this madness, a rhythm that combines the agility of a jungle cat with the competitiveness of a caffeine-fueled teenager. At its core, spikeball is about spiking a ball onto a tiny trampoline with a ferocity that makes it difficult for the opposition to spike it back onto the net within three passes.
No earlier or later than 9:30 p.m., three spikeball nets are set up on Watts Lawn with dozens of people leaving the Happy Half scene to instead witness spikeball rivalries. For a school that takes pride in its STEM prowess, you wouldn’t think people would be so excited to run around chasing a tiny ball that’s basically trying to outsmart them at every turn. Yet here we are.
Of course, being a part of this spikeball culture means learning how to navigate the occasional failure with grace–or, at least, with a semi-acceptable excuse. If you miss the ball, it’s not because you’re bad at the game. It’s because “the wind caught it,” or “the net was uneven,” or “I wasn’t ready,” or the classic “my partner didn’t set me up right.” There’s a whole catalog of explanations ready to go at any moment, because no one ever truly misses a spikeball. It’s always the environment conspiring against you.
Still, for all the sarcasm and the competitive edge, spikeball at NCSSM is the best kind of chaos. There’s something oddly satisfying about diving for a ball that’s already out of reach, or that rare moment when your team pulls off a combo so perfect that the other team can only stand there in awe (or confusion—either works). You bond over the shared frustration of a close game and the memories that come from all the laughter and bruises. Because let’s be real: if you’re playing spikeball and you’re not leaving with at least one new bruise, did you even play?
At the end of the day, spikeball at NCSSM is more than just a game. It’s an unspoken tradition, a rite of passage, and a chance to momentarily forget about that upcoming test or lab report. Plus, it’s just plain fun, even when you lose. And if you do lose, there’s always the next game.
Or a good excuse.