World’s largest Speedball competition in Wellington

World’s largest Speedball competition attracts 14 Wellington teams

More than 150 teens will be throwing balls at Speedball nets during the largest speedball competition in Wellington – and the World - on Saturday night (1 August 2015).

The Ignite Sport Youthgroup Speedball Competition was piloted last year, with seven teams competing. Tomorrow night’s tournament at ASB Sports Centre has attracted 14 teams of at least 10 young people, playing in two divisions.

Tournament organiser Alex Britton says the aim of Speedball is to throw the ball against a rebound net – a point is scored if the ball bounces outside the ‘forbidden’ zone without being caught by an opposing team member. What makes Speedball stand out from most other sports though is that both teams can score in either goal at any time. This makes for a fast game and great competition between the teams.

“Teenagers love the fast pace, strategy, and fun of speedball,” says Mr Britton. “The game is easy to pick up, and you don’t necessarily need to be the tallest, fastest or strongest to be a great player”.

The competitive game was adapted from Tchoukball by Ignite Sport Trust for ‘Kiwi kids’ several years ago. It has since been introduced into several schools during youth development or sports programmes by the youth development charity which works throughout the Wellington Region.

See promo video of speedball at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbplX3oGIM4&feature=youtu.be

Speedball is also one of the games played during Ignite Sport’s massive multi indoor sports competition, Ignition, on 13 September. For information about Ignition see http://www.ignitesport.org.nz/events/ignition-2015-multi-indoor-sports-tournament/

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