A USC freshman from York County made Team USA. Is a world title next?
Folks may not know a world championship exists for roundnet. But there’s a first time for everything.
Katie Pierson, 18, will be part of that historic first as a Team USA member competing in the Roundnet World Championship in Belgium. The event runs Sept. 8-11. It’s the first ever world championship for the sport. Pierson found out a month ago she’ll be one of six women to represent her country.
She leaves Tuesday.
“It was really cool because I feel like I’ve been working really hard to be a top player,” said Pierson, who grew up playing the sport with dad Tripp Pierson in Tega Cay. “To be on this inaugural team, there’s only going to be six women who are going to be on this first time. Ever.”
Joel Graham, coach of the women’s team, said a selection committee reviewed film of players and qualifying tournaments to pick the best possible players.
“Throughout the United States there are hundreds of women’s roundnet competitors, and in addition to those who I would consider active competitors there are thousands and thousands who play regularly,” Graham said. “This is an extremely select group who have worked very hard to achieve this opportunity.”
Pierson began playing roundnet, sometimes called spikeball, in 2016. She got a game set for her birthday.
Pierson and Tripp started playing tournaments seriously in 2017 when she was in eighth grade at Gold Hill Middle School. Playing as team ‘Merica, they qualified for the national championship tournament. In 2019, the pair won an intermediate division national title.
Roundnet, or spikeball, involves the namesake circular net on the ground, central to a playing area. Teams of two serve and return the ball until one team can’t, similar to tennis. Teams get three passes or spikes, similar to volleyball, before the ball has to bounce off the net where the other team tries to return it.
The two most popular places people see the game are at the beach, or on a rec field at a college campus.
“It’s a huge college sport,” Pierson said. “There actually is a college series.”
Pierson began at the University of South Carolina earlier this month. She’s already found a club team there with about 30 people. She’s still adjusting to college life as she prepares for Belgium.
“It’s really great,” Pierson said. “I like it. There’s a lot of school pride.”
While many players are introduced in college to roundnet, Pierson brought years of experience. It’s part of the reason the Fort Mill High School grad is the youngest national team member. Most players on the men’s and women’s sides are several years older than Pierson, who turned 18 this month.
“I am the baby of the group,” she said.
A new rankings system just came out, putting Pierson as the ninth rated woman in the world. The world championships will pair Pierson with Shachi Patel from Texas. Competition includes both an individual team component and a set of matches where countries face off in what is, on the women’s side, a best of three decision.
Pierson and Patel haven’t played together. Fellow pairs groups on Team USA have, some for several years. Pierson recently flew out to Texas to play with her new partner.
“We’re getting some chemistry that the other teams have, that we lack,” Pierson said.
The sport has grown to about 20 large events a year, spread across mainly the United States. Pierson has been to Orlando, Dallas, Seattle, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and others spots to play. She went to Paris for an event. Because the sport originated here, the United States traditionally has dominated.
Pierson says it’s a consensus the U.S. men are heavy favorites for the first world title.
“I’d say the women is a little more of a toss up,” Pierson said. “I think a lot of people would favor the United States, but there’s a lot of talent in Europe.”
Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom also are threats for the title.
Graham is similarly optimistic.
“The US team goes into the world championship as the favorites, although the gap is narrowing,” Graham said.
Depth is an advantage in a country with so many quality teams.
“The question of depth is a big one in other countries where the sport is newer,” Graham said. “Our goal is to play our best, represent our country and sport in an honorable manner, and we’re confident that if we do that, we can win on the world stage.”
Jack Scotti, president of the International Roundnet Federation, said it’s a huge accomplishment being selected to play for the U.S. team, and this country has to be a favorite with more than a decade of high-level play. But, Scotti said, the event in Belgium will go a long way in determining where the best players are.
“There are 235 teams from 33 countries and six different continents,” Scotti said. “Most of these countries have never faced each other, so this is the first time there will be a definitive gauge of who’s the best in the world. “
At her age, the infancy of the sport and her distance from college campuses when Pierson started to excel at roundnet years ago, few people she met outside of tournaments had any concept of what she did. Now people more often get it. Still, they seldom know how big the game has become.
“One of their reactions is, I bet I can beat you at spikeball,” Pierson said. “The other reaction is, I didn’t know people play in tournaments. I feel like they’re shocked that the sport is big enough to have a national team.”
The USC freshman had to let a professor know on the first day that she would miss a week of class early in the term. Not for a sick grandparent, a dog eating homework or any of the other reasons college students may have given over the years. Pierson has to be the first USC student to need time for Team USA roundnet duties.
“He’s like, oh wow,” Pierson said. “I didn’t know they had that. He didn’t have a problem with me missing classes, luckily.”
Pierson worked hard to make the team for what would’ve been the first world championship event in 2020. COVID delayed it until this year. The extra time gave Pierson an opportunity to improve her game. A sport she’s already seen grow so much is likely to continue on that path, Pierson said, which makes inclusion in the first world championship event special not only now but also for the future.
Scotti said there are millions of players worldwide and the number is growing, but most players participate at the casual level. Competitive play outside the U.S. is growing, Scotti said.
“The ultimate goal is to see roundnet in the Olympics,” Scotti said. “This World Championship is based on the Olympic model. It is organized by an international federation and the athletes are selected by the member national federations.”
More continental games may come. Roundnet may be included in more multi-sport international events. Yet there’s plenty of excitement in the present, too.
“There can only ever be one ‘first ever’ world championship for any sport, and this is it for the sport of roundnet,” Graham said. “These athletes will be representing their nation in a competition involving over 30 other countries, and 500 total athletes. It is a monumental occasion and it’s just the beginning.”
