The 12 Spikeball Sets Of Christmas: A Give-A-Way

Over the next few weeks we're giving away 24 Spikeball sets!  In each of the next 12 posts you'll have a chance to win. Winners get a set for you personally and a set for your YL club! That's a $100 retail value x 12 winners= $1,200.00 worth of Spikeball sets! Make sure to read the bottom of each of the next 12 posts on the blog to find out how you can win.  

What Is Spikeball?
A super fun game we love to play at our YL club, inside or out! We also play at Campaigners, camp, and family vacations! It's sort of a combo between 4-Square and Volleyball. Watch this video to see Spikeball in action.

The Spikeball Story
Written by Chris Ruder, CEO of Spikeball, Inc.

In 1989, I was 14 years old and living in my hometown of Kankakee, IL. One of my older brother's friends purchased a Spikeball set from Toys-R-Us and we fell in love with the game. We played it on and off for 20+ years with strangers constantly asking us, "What's that game? How do you play? Where can I get one?" After realizing the original company abandoned the game, we wanted to bring it back to life. A few of my family and friends all chipped in some money to launch the business and crossed our fingers. We were pretty confident we'd lose all of our money since we had zero experience launching a business, let alone manufacturing a product. Thankfully, we were wrong. 

I've been running Spikeball Inc by myself for about 5 years now. Until recently, I would go to my 'day job', come home around 6pm, hang out with my wife and 3 young kids until 8 or 9, put them to bed, and then work on Spikeball every night until midnight or 1am. I'd do Facebook and Twitter posts, customer service, print shipping labels, and drive to the late night post office at midnight to ship sets for a few years. Each year the business grew and grew and we learned that a lot of Young Life groups were getting Spikeball sets. We reached out to a few groups and have been doing what we can to get more sets in more Young Lifer's hands. Nashville, TN seems to be the epicenter of the Young Life-Spikeball relationship. 

I'm happy to announce that I was able to quit my day job about a month ago and there are two of us working full time on Spikeball. Part of my 'job', if you want to call it that, is flying all over the country visiting tournaments, schools, and other groups that are making Spikeball a part of their community. It's been a dream come true to do what I love for work. I thank Young Life for playing a role in making that happen. 

We've partnered with Drew here on The Young Life Leader Blog to give sets away to 12 different Young Lifers in what we're calling "The 12 Spikeball Sets of Christmas". Over the next two weeks, in each blog post, you'll see a new contest where you can enter to win a Spikeball set. If you win, you'll get a set for yourself, AND one for your Young Life group. 

Thank you for your support and good luck! 
Chris Ruder, CEO, Spikeball Inc.

Day 1 Contest: Best Photo Caption Wins
Leave your caption for the photo below in the comment section of this post. Include your name and Young Life area. You can also enter via the YoungLifeLeader Instagram.  Best caption wins 2 Spikeball sets!