Little less than six months until the 2024 International Roundnet Federation (IRF) Roundnet World Championship at the end of August. The buzz for Worlds is really starting to pick up, so we thought a World Championship breakdown was in order.

In this issue:

• What is it?

• Tournament format breakdown

• The host

• Team selection process

Let’s dive in 🤿 

🤷‍♀️ What is the IRF Roundnet World Championship?

The Roundnet World Championship is an event that is organized by the IRF and takes place every two years. The first World Championship tournament (that was affiliated with the IRF) was Belgium 2022, and it has quickly become the pinnacle of the sport—not just because of the quality players and teams, but because it brings the entire worldwide community together.

Worlds is a squad and individual tournament, where squad teams represent their country. The 2024 edition is expected to include teams from 30 countries, and it is very likely that it will be largest roundnet tournament to date.

Here’s a promo video from 2022 to get y’all fired UP 🔥 

📋️ Tournament Format

There are two sides to Worlds—Individual and Squad. We’ll take a look into each.

☝️ Individual

Two teams are allowed per country for each division (Men’s, Women’s, and Mixed).

Much like Spikeball Tour Series events, there is pool play and bracket play. Teams are seeded into pools prior to the event by the World Ranking Committee. Teams will then enter the bracket based on performance in pool play, not based on country. This means we’ll probably see teams from the same country play each other early on. Can you imagine the storylines?

Two important notes regarding the Individual portion of the tournament:

• Any individual participating in Men’s or Women’s cannot play Mixed because the tournament happens all at once. It’ll be interesting to see which divisions each country prioritizes.

• Strength Bids. Strength Bids are a way for the top countries to bring more than two teams in the Men’s and Women’s divisions. Countries ranked 1-4 in each division receive two extra bids per division, and countries ranked 5-8 receive one extra bid per. Strength bids do not apply for mixed division.

  • The following strength bids are as follows:

    • 1-4: USA, Canada, Germany, France 

    • 5-8: Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy

🚓 Squad

First off, you know we love the squad format and 2022 Worlds really brought it onto the scene. With the level and breadth of talent within each country, we’re in for an incredible tournament. Had to geek out a little, sorry, back to it. 

Each country brings five teams per division (Men’s and Women’s). Before the event National Governing Bodies (NGBs) must rank their teams 1 through 5. 

To start the tournament, teams go through pool play. In squad matches, teams of the same rank play each other (i.e., Team A plays Team A, B vs B, etc.), and whichever squad wins 3/5 games wins the match. If you’re familiar with the USA college format, it’s basically the same. 

And finally, bracket play is single elimination until a World Champion is crowned.

• Side note: American Spikers League incorporated a format where coaches chose the matchups and have the ability to shuffle teams around. A part of us believes this is a better system, as it adds another strategic aspect to the tournament—coaches can’t just be technical, they have to be master tacticians as well.

🫖 Your Hosts

The 2024 IRF Roundnet World Championship will be hosted by British Roundnet at Surrey Sports Park in London, England from August 29 - September 1, 2024.

We haven’t met the head of British Roundnet, Jack Collard, but his interview with Scott Beeks on That Roundnet Podcast was great. With people like Jack at the helm, it really makes us believe in the future of this wonderful sport.

📺️ How to Watch

If you’re around, go to the event! The organizers have put a strong emphasis/priority on attracting spectators to the tournament to add legitimacy and gain the necessary resources to put on a great event. 

As far as we know, streaming hasn’t been figured out yet, but as soon as we get more information we will pass it right along to you. As you know, it is very tough to broadcast roundnet, and that has resulted in some poor streams for international fans. We get the sense this issue is something Jack is thinking deeply about, and we’re confident the coverage will be very strong!

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Team Selection Process

The beauty of the team selection process is that all countries use unique methods for determining which players will have the honor of representing their country at the World Championships. But before each country can put together their national team, they must make sure they meet all the criteria and eligibility put forth by the International Roundnet Federation. 

Like we mentioned above, each country has their own process for selecting their national team rosters–so we thought it would be interesting to take a closer look into the selection process for a couple countries. To start, we’re keeping it local. 

🍁 Team Canada Selection Process

You know we had to start with Team Canada (no bias we swear 😉).

Canada’s 2023 National Champions in Whistler—Etienne Cote, Blake Bosak, Genevieve Tardy, and Kim Aspirot—have already qualified to represent Canada at the World Championships.

The Canadian selection process is fairly quick and straightforward. Team Canada Selection Camp will take place May 11-12, and this camp will determine who will wear that iconic red maple leaf on their chest in the 2024 and 2025 seasons. 

The first day of Selection Camp will consist of a tournament, and the top performers in the tournament will receive an invite to day 2 of Selection Camp, which will include assessments, testing, and an “individual format event.” 

Two days. That’s it. That’s all you get to prove that you should represent Canada in all international events in 2024 and 2025. 

Now I know what you’re thinking, that isn’t a very large sample of play to determine the national team roster. And while I agree for the most part, if certain players are able to step up and play their best at a two-day selection camp where they know everything is on the line, then I would expect them to rise to the occasion at the World Championship in Great Britain as well. 

You can’t teach clutch. 

They also might have the best hype video of all time:

That’s Rocky Balboa-esque right there 🥊 

🦅 Team USA Selection Process

The Team USA selection process is not as simple, but we’ll do our best to break it all down for you. 

Let’s start here–like team Canada, the 2023 Men’s and Women’s National Champions have automatically qualified for Team USA. Those players are: Gabriel Finocchi, Will Picone, Kalin Morgan, and Kayla Wu Fleming. Shoutout to them. 

To fill out the remaining spots, players are eligible to qualify for Team USA if they hold a 2024 USA Roundnet annual membership, and finish in the top 4 of the Open or Women’s division at any of five USA Roundnet (USAR) regional events, which are pictured below:

After all five regional tournaments are complete and we know which players are qualified for selection, separate panels will select eight Men’s, and eight Women’s players based on the following criteria:

• Performance at USAR Regional Events

• Fair Play/Attitude

• Roundnet accomplishments and recent level of play

• Diversity in skillset across the team

The USA National Team will be selected by Friday May 10th, 2024. 

But as you probably noticed, the West and East Regionals have already taken place, so let’s take a short look and see what teams/players have already put themselves on Team USA’s radar. You’ll see some familiar names here.

🏄‍♂️ West Regionals (Men)

🏄‍♀️ West Regionals (Women)

🗽 East Regionals (Men)

🗽 East Regionals (Women)

You probably noticed Connor Nelson’s name up there… twice. Connor is a Premier player from California who is bursting onto the scene. He had a solid performance at the Columbus Major last year, and after winning BOTH regional tournaments with two different partners (beating Rogue, Mermaid Sparkle, and Assistive Touch in the process), he might just be the first shoe in for the US National Team (not including the auto-qualifiers). 

Also, big shoutout to Julia Brochu and Sarah Allen for their performance at Eastern Regionals this weekend—they dominated the Women’s division, only dropping one game all day. 

The Team USA selection process is bound to be a topic of extreme debate with the immense level of talent at their disposal, and it will be a fun race to follow until the team is selected in May.

Most other countries have a basic nomination/application and coach selection process, like Roundnet Germany, and Roundnet Austria. And some countries like the OG host, Belgium, have a mix between camps and selection from a jury. 

We compare roundnet to golf quite a bit, and the biggest squad tournament in golf, the Ryder Cup, has a tried and true system that we believe could be effective for roundnet national team qualifications. To qualify for the Ryder Cup, most players qualify with points, which they earn through strong tournament performances. The remaining players selected are “Captain’s Picks,” where the team’s captain (coach) can select any player they wish to fill the final spots.

What do you think is the best format?

We will make sure to keep you updated as more and more countries announce their World Championship rosters. Get hyped everybody 🤩

👊 Quick Hits

☝️ Laura Kunzelmann up to her usual shenanigans 

🍋 Spiked Lemonade talks ROUNDNETWORK w/ Ben Dantowitz

🍁 Roundnet Canada introduces Canadian Roundnet Series (CRS)

🇪🇸 Model and Hinkle shine in Mallorca