Infotainment Factory: Aussies taking on the world at this wild new sport

When Natasha Li started mucking about with a roundnet kit in her friend's backyard, she had no idea that not even two years later the wild new sport would take her to Europe as part of Australia's national team.

With the first-ever Roundnet World Championship scheduled to kick off on September 8, Li will form part of the 16-strong Australian squad travelling to Belgium as the emerging sport of roundnet announces itself on the global stage.

You're probably thinking, 'What on earth is this sport and how does it work?'. Roundnet is a two-against-two game where competitors orbit around a small, circular net - kind of like a miniature trampoline.

Two Australian's play roundnet in Europe.

Combing elements of volleyball, handball and the Australian schoolyard classic downball, each team has up to three touches to bat the ball between them before 'spiking' the ball onto the net without it touching the ground or hitting the rim of the net.

The team that first delivers the ball in a way that is impossible for its opposition to return scores a point, with the first to 21 points winning the match.

As play is permitted 360 degrees around the net, there are no boundaries or restrictions to where the ball can go.

"There aren't many sports out there that don't have an out-of-bounds [part], so roundnet is unique because the only limit is your own strength," national squad member Murray Noble told Wide World of Sports.

"If you have the strength to hit the ball 50-metres in any direction, you can go for it."

Roundnet uses a ball made from plastic, which is slightly bigger than a tennis ball. It is pumped with air to give a bit of squish to it.

"The ball does hurt your hand the first time hitting it if you're going pretty hard, but you quickly become used to it and it's not so bad," Noble said.

Spikeball, an interchangeable term among ballers, is the name of the brand that produces the equipment to play tournaments and the premier sponsor for the world championships.

As a game, roundnet came about in the late 1990s but rose to popularity in the United States over a decade later in the 2010s.

Last year, over 800 players contested the US Nationals.

Australian team manager James Docking was pivotal to bringing the game to Australia in 2015 and has worked tirelessly to grow the country's roundnet community through hundreds of schools, universities, churches and youth groups.

Australia's competitive scene kicked off in 2017 with three tournaments nationwide. This has since grown to 16 competitions a year run by the sport's governing body, the Australian Roundnet Association, and some independent groups.

But how did Li, who came across a roundnet pick-up competition in a small pocket of Sydney and began playing socially on a Monday night, make it to the sport's peak global event?

As it stands, anyone can contest an official tournament based in Australia, with ranking points awarded to association members for placings.

Each state generally runs three tournaments a year, most including a beach, indoor and outdoor competition.

These events run in addition to the Australian National Championship which offers a larger number of points.

With the world championships already cancelled three times because of the impacts of COVID-19 on international travel, player points previously had little effect on anything, but now influence the selection process for the national squad with the country's top-10-ranked men forming five teams.

Three women's teams and one mixed pair will also represent Australia.

With fewer females playing competitively in Australia, participation levels are not yet high enough to base selection on the points system. Therefore, a selection committee was appointed to choose the women's teams based on performances at recent tournaments.

With roundnet open to everyone, Li hopes coverage from the world championships will help foster female involvement in Australia.

"The women's game is a different game," she said.

"As the women cannot normally hit the ball as hard, the way the game is run and the tactics that we use are slightly different.

"Worlds is a great launching pad for us to promote the sport to more women and encourage girls to get involved. The younger we can get them in, the better it will be for the sport in the future."

Fellow squad member Thomas Kaldor has been active in growing the sport at UNSW Sydney through the university's Spikeball society.

He says the greatest barrier to the sport's legitimacy is making the transition from a fun pastime to a structured competition.

Members of UNSW Sydney's Spikeball society compete in a beach tournament.

"One of the biggest challenges we have is trying to get people who enjoy playing roundnet socially on campus to then play more competitively and enter tournaments," he said.

"There's a level of commitment involved. It just depends on how committed you are. For some people, flying to Melbourne [for the Australian championships] isn't something they want to do."

While roundnet is still in its infancy in Australia, the sport is incredibly popular throughout Europe and the United States. With thousands of people playing competitively, it is these nations that Australia will test themselves against in Belgium.

"Knowing what we know about the other countries, we'd expect that the top three will be pretty set in stone already," Noble said.

"There are 34 countries going and we're hoping to be in the top half of the field. That's kind of the team goal overall.

"We're going over and just finding out where we sit. It's kind of like a fact-finding mission that's going to be great fun."

"I think it's probably going to be the US in first (position), Canada second and Germany third, and then there are the other really good countries like Belgium and Austria as well," Kaldor added.

With more opportunities to play at a competitive level than ever before, including plans for Australia to host a major Pacific region tournament in 2024, Noble believes there is no better time to give roundnet a try with a friend.

"Now's the time to jump in."

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