The three numbers that tell you what you bought

The rules define a regulation set precisely, and you can measure yours in a minute.

  • Inner diameter at the top: 91.4 cm, which is 36 inches.
  • Height: 20.3 cm, which is 8 inches.
  • Net tension: a ball dropped from 1.5 m bounces back 50 cm off the net, measured from the bottom of the ball, and the tension is even all the way round.

If your set matches those three, you have a proper set whatever the label says. If it is noticeably smaller, you have a travel or junior version, which is perfectly good for learning on and will feel different from what people use at tournaments.

For sanctioned tournament play the rules go one step further and require an IRF approved set and ball. That matters the day you enter an event, and not before.

How to tell a cheap copy from a cheap set

Those are different things. A cheap set from a real manufacturer is fine. A copy that looks identical in a photo often is not, and there are three tells.

The rim flexes. Push down on the frame between two legs. A good rim barely moves, a bad one bends and that bend goes straight into the bounce.

The net will not hold tension. If you cannot get an even 50 cm bounce out of it however you tighten, the net or the fastenings are the problem and no technique will fix it.

Legs that will not seat. Legs that pop out even when fully pushed in mean the joints are out of tolerance. That is the one failure that ruins evenings rather than just annoying you.

Manufacturers whose sets get played on in competition include Spikeball, Bamball, Premier Spike, Rumble Roundnet and Rashball. There are more, and the list changes.

Spare parts

Legs and nets are the parts that fail, in that order, and both are replaceable on any decent set. Balls are consumables and everybody goes through them.

Buy spare balls before you need them, because you will only notice the ball is finished on the evening you wanted to play. One spare, already inflated, in the bag.

Care, in four lines

Release the tension before packing. A net stored under load stretches, and a stretched net never gets its bounce back. This is the number one way sets quietly die.

Shake the sand out. Grit in the joints is what turns a smooth rim into a stiff one over a season.

Do not store it wet. Not because it will rust immediately, but because a damp net in a closed bag for a month is a smell you will not forget.

Leaving it outside for a weekend will not kill it. Leaving it outside for a winter will.

Transport

The whole thing breaks down into rim segments, legs and a net, and it fits in a bag most manufacturers include. It goes in hand luggage on the way to a tournament, which is one of the quietly great things about this sport.

If you have lost the bag, any bag works. The parts are light and there is nothing fragile in there apart from the net fastenings.