Every week on Tuesdays and Fridays, a group of Redwood students come together for Spikeball Club, where they play their beloved game during lunch. Senior Tug Ricordel is president of the club, which he founded in 2022 after noticing that Redwood owned Spikeball equipment that was rarely used besides the occasional lawn chair Friday.
“I wondered, ‘Maybe we could do something with [the equipment.] We could start the [Spikeball Club] with that.’ I know a lot of people like Spikeball. You see it on the beach. Everyone is playing Spikeball, from high school students [to] college students, so I wanted to start a club at Redwood,” Ricordel said.
The club leaders, Ricordel, Vice President Liam Martinez, Treasurer Ryan Sun and Secretary Dutch Howard, also plan pizza events, which they expect to have at least two more of this year. With Ricordel having a say as a part of the leadership staff, he also coordinates school-wide spikeball tournaments.
“I’m the one to start those [discussions about Spikeball tournaments] in my Leadership class. A lot of the Spikeball tournament participants come from the Spikeball club, so we try to prepare for those so we can win,” Ricordel said.
Howard, a senior, pointed out one of the main benefits of schoolwide Spikeball tournaments.
“We enjoy doing tournaments on the South Lawn because a lot of new people can see our club. Obviously, on the lacrosse field it’s a little bit more secluded, so we just really like everyone being able to see what spike ball is all about. There’s also a prize involved [in the tournaments,] which is nice; it motivates people to do well,” Howard said.
Howard has also been working on his own project for the club, which he began this past summer: designing jerseys for club members.
“[Howard] worked on the design all summer and finally purchased his own. If we get more positive feedback, hopefully, we can get those shirts to the entire club,” Ricordel said.
Ricordel appreciates how Spikeball can bring people together and hopes his club at Redwood can do the same.
“It’s all about community. When you see people on the beach, you can just go up to people and say, ‘Hey can I join a few games?’ Everyone is welcome, which is the type of community we want to foster at Redwood,” Ricordel said.
