The competitive roundnet scene is gaining traction, but following the sport can be incredibly frustrating and confusing—especially when you’re first getting into the sport.

That confusion will be at least somewhat cleared up after reading.

This blog is going to map out the competitive scene clearly so you’ll be able to follow the sport (and our newsletter) without any headaches. The amount of time it took us to gain all the materials for this blog is reason enough why this newsletter needs to exist. 

UPDATED FOR 2024

You’ll learn about:

• The Spikeball Tour Series

  • Challengers, Majors, The Championship

• Divisions

  • Skill level and qualifications

• Prize money

Here we go.

🟡 The Spikeball Tour Series (STS)

STS is the main competitive roundnet tour—just like the PGA Tour for golf.

The STS is composed of three different event types:

• Challengers

  • Challenger events happen every week in various locations throughout North America, and are independently ran with sanction from the tour. 

• Majors

  • There are Majors every year which have larger prizes and earn you more points (again, similar to the professional golf landscape). In 2024 there are three majors (see our full schedule breakdown here).

• The Championship

  • The Championship happens at the end of every season. It is the most prestigious tournament in the sport.

📊 Ratings and Divisions

In roundnet, there are ratings that describe your skill level and determine which division you will play in at tournaments. You can enter yourself in any level you want up until Premier, where you have to qualify. 

• 1.0: Recreational. Play for a good time, no need for a lot of space. Will probably be on the beach with a beer in hand. 

• 2.0: Beginner. Have a basic knowledge of 360 degree play. Can move around the net effectively. 

• 3.0: Intermediate. You can use your non-dominant hand, you understand positioning, and consistently beat beginners. 

• 4.0: Advanced. Multiple serves in your bag, return long hits to the net, can put points away effectively.

• 4.5: Contender. You’re really good, just not ready to play with the big boys or girls. 

• 5.0: Premier. Change type of hit mid-rally, body block with control, you post on social media about playing roundnet.

• 6.0 (often referred to as 5.0+): Pro. Masterful control of the ball, game, and strategies. 

Qualifications

Premier: In order to become a premier player you must win a sanctioned tournament in the Contender Division (4.5). Once you attain that qualification, you keep it for a calendar year and can play in as many Premier tournaments as you please (every tournament has unlimited spots for the Premier Division).

Men’s Pro Division: What was originally a marquee addition to the Championship since 2018, the Tour realized there needed to be more separation. There is now a Pro Division at every Major. This division will be the top 16 open teams, which is determined by teams’ combined individual points.

Women’s Pro Division: There will be a Women’s Pro division at Majors now as well.

“To have a Women's Pro Division at Majors, there will need to be at least 20 Women's teams signed up for the event." The top 12 teams will qualify for the Women's Pro division based on the combination of the team's individual players’ points (taken from their top 3 finishes).”

If there are less than 20 teams registered, they will combine the Women’s divisions and put the top teams into Power Pools again, just like in 2023

European Qualifications: There is no European major this year, but those players still have an opportunity to qualify for the Championship, due to the Designated European Event. 

New Points Breakdown: Points from 2023 will be cut in half.

To see the full points breakdown all the way to 65, visit here.

📊 Ratings and Divisions - Part 2

The Mixed Division is getting complicated so we made an entire section to help you understand what’s going on.

Mixed Division at Majors: There will now be squads of four instead of teams of two. Squads must contain two men and two women. No qualification required.

Format: “In both group stage and bracket stage, the LOWER seeded team will pick their teams first, designating one team as their "A" team and the other as their "B" team.”

The higher seeded team will then "counter-pick," selecting their own "A" and "B" teams.

Group Stage: Matches have two games up to 15. Each pair will play each other. Pairs cannot switch mid-match, but can switch throughout the tournament.

Bracket Stage: Single elimination. Each pair plays each other, for a total of four matches, up to 21. If it’s tied 2-2, it goes to a tiebreaker.

Tie Breaker: The teams will play a single game tiebreaker in which teams will rotate a player (male OR female) onto the field every five points.

The lower seeded team will be the first to pick the pair that starts the game and the rotation. Then, the higher seeded team will counter-pick their starting pair and their rotation.

Author’s note: this is kind of wild.

🤑 Prize Money (as of the 2023 season)

There’s not an insane amount of money for roundnet… yet.

Here’s the purse breakdown:

Summary

The STS works a lot like other professional tours at a smaller scale. There’s smaller tournaments every week (Challengers) to allow players to qualify for bigger tournaments (Majors), which all lead to the big finale for all the marbles (The Championship).