 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Sports equipment |
| Founded | 2017 in Miami, Florida, U.S. |
| Website | crossnetgame |
Crossnet (also known as CROSSNET) is an American sports equipment company that produces a four-way volleyball game of the same name. Crossnet is a combination of volleyball and four square, in a competitive game.
In 2017, the game was devised the farm town in Woodstock, Connecticut by brothers Chris and Greg Meade and their childhood friend Mike Delpapa, with inspiration from KanJam and four square. [1] Chris said in interview that, to some degree, the motivation he and his brother had to create the company came from the experience of losing their father in 2012.[ citation needed ] In 2014, Chris graduated from Quinnipiac University with a film degree, and Delpapa graduated from Northeastern University with an engineering degree. [2] In 2012, Greg enrolled at Eastern Connecticut State University with a marketing degree before dropping out in order to pursue entrepreneurial ventures.
At the time the idea was conceived in May 2017, Chris was working at the Uber HQ as an Account Executive helping launch Uber Eats. [3] Before investing their life savings and quitting their jobs, the team tested the concept by purchasing volleyball nets from Walmart and repurposing them into a makeshift prototype in January 2018. Shortly after, they patented and trademarked the idea, and then discovered a Chinese manufacturer through Alibaba Group who could make a real prototype for $250. [4] By June of 2018, inventory was first being sold. In 2018, the company made $74K in revenue, and in 2019, they made $2.25M in revenue (30x increase from the year earlier).
In 2021, USA Volleyball announced an official partnership with Crossnet. [5]
In 2021, Crossnet was recognized as one of the Forbes 30 Under 30 sports companies.[ citation needed ] The company also established a warehouse in Canada and developed a branded partnership with Wilson.[ citation needed ]
In 2021 and 2023, a Crossnet tournament in Chula Vista, California was shown on ESPN8 The Ocho with contestants competing for a $10K purse. [6] [7] Crossnet has been featured on People , WFLA-TV, Ellen DeGeneres Show , Good Morning America , Today Show , WDBD, Chicago Tribune , HuffPost , and many more. [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
According to the company, in 2022 the game was played in over 100 thousand households, more than 10 thousand schools, distributed in 49 countries, and supplied by over 3 thousand retailers, including Walmart, Target, Sam's Club, Academy Sports, and Dick's Sporting Goods. [15] [16] [17] In 2020, 1,000 Crossnet sets were donated to underfunded schools.
The Meade brothers and Delpapa have created additional games, including Smashnet (hybrid sport where roundnet meets ping pong), under the Good Sport brand. [18]
The game consists of four quadrants: four players choose their own squares; begins with the 4th square diagonally serving to the 2nd square; the 2nd then returns the ball with one hit to any square to start the rally. When the ball lands in a player's square they are eliminated, and the player in the 4th square always scores a point but only if the player in the 4th square is not eliminated (otherwise, no points are received by any); the remaining three players all rotate clockwise, and the eliminated player keeps their points but goes back to the 1st square or is replaced by a new player in the 1st square. The game is played to 11 points (win by 2).
A player is eliminated when: the ball lands on the ground inside their own square; player returns the ball out of bounds; player fails to hit the ball into another square; player double hits the ball; player hits the ball incorrectly; or player hits the ball out of turn. [19] [20] [21] [22] The ball is considered in play when the ball lands on the outside boundary. Players are not allowed to catch, hold, or carry the ball at any point during play. Players are required to hit the ball with their "hands", which is any section between the fingertips and wrists, including the back of the hands.
Crossnet is height-adjustable to both regulation women's and men's volleyball height. The men's height is 7 feet 11+5⁄8 inches (2.429 m) and the women's height is 7 feet 4+1⁄8 inches (2.238 m). The single-length Crossnet is 13 feet 1+1⁄2 inches (4.001 m), and each of the four squares is 6 feet 7 inches (2.01 m) wide.
The objective of the game is to remove players in higher squares so that oneself can advance to the highest square where points are awarded. When one player has a significant lead over the other three players, it is common for the three players to join forces to repeatedly target and eliminate the leading player.
Crossnet has two models for different terrains: an indoor version for wood courts and outdoor version for grass and sand. Also, the company created a pickleball, pool, and soccer variation. Along with the standard variety, there is also the double-length net, which allows for double the number of players (8 total for 2 vs 2 vs 2 vs 2).
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summer Olympic Games since Tokyo 1964. Beach volleyball was introduced to the programme at the Atlanta 1996 Summer Olympics. The adapted version of volleyball at the Summer Paralympic Games is sitting volleyball.
Dodgeball is a team sport in which players on two opposing teams try to throw balls and hit opponents while avoiding being hit themselves. The objective of each team is to eliminate all members of the opposing team by hitting them with thrown balls, catching a ball thrown by an opponent, or inducing an opponent to commit a violation, such as stepping outside the court.
Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two players each on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side of the court. Each team also works in unison to prevent the opposing team from grounding the ball on their side of the court.
Tetherball is a game where two players use their hands to strike a volleyball which is suspended from a stationary metal pole by a rope or tether. The two players stand on opposite sides of the pole, and each tries to hit the ball one way; one clockwise, and one counterclockwise. The game ends when one player manages to wind the ball all the way around the pole so that it is stopped by the rope. It must not bounce.
Four square is a global sport played on a square court divided by two perpendicular lines into four identical boxes creating four squares labelled 1–4 or A–D.
A baseball field, also called a ball field or baseball diamond, is the field upon which the game of baseball is played. The term can also be used as a metonym for a baseball park. The term sandlot is sometimes used, although this usually refers to less organized venues for activities like sandlot ball.
Bat and trap is an English bat-and-ball pub game. It is still played in Kent, and occasionally in Brighton. By the late 20th century it was usually only played on Good Friday in Brighton, on the park called The Level, which has an adjacent pub called The Bat and Ball, whose sign depicts the game. Brighton & Hove City Council started a Bat and Trap club based at The Level in 2013, as part of the Activities Plan associated with a £2.2m Heritage Lottery Fund and Big Lottery Fund-funded restoration of the park.
Wallyball is a fast-paced sport that is similar to volleyball played in a racquetball court, where it is legal to hit the ball off of the walls.
In basketball, there are five players on court per team, each assigned to positions. Historically, these players have been assigned to positions defined by the role they play on the court, from a strategic point of view. The three main positions are guard, forward, and center, with the standard team featuring two guards, two forwards, and a center. Over time, as more specialized roles developed, each of the guards and forwards came to be differentiated, and today each of the five positions is known by a unique name and number: point guard (PG) or 1, the shooting guard (SG) or 2, the small forward (SF) or 3, the power forward (PF) or 4, and the center (C) or 5 "post position".
Dartball is a game in which darts are thrown at a large wooden or Homasote board that resembles a baseball field with colored areas which denote bases. Dartball uses baseball-like rules and scoring.
Several sports related to volleyball have become popular. Indoor volleyball and beach volleyball are both events at the Olympics, and sitting volleyball is an event at the Paralympics. Other varieties are localized, or are played at an amateur or informal level.
A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. The entire ball must pass through the vertical plane of the goal, which is the area above the crossbar and between the uprights or, if above the uprights, between their outside edges. American football requires that a field goal must only come during a play from scrimmage while Canadian football retains open field kicks and thus field goals may be scored at any time from anywhere on the field and by any player. The vast majority of field goals, in both codes, are placekicked. Drop-kicked field goals were common in the early days of gridiron football but are almost never attempted in modern times. A field goal may also be scored through a fair catch kick, but this is also extremely rare. In most leagues, a successful field goal awards three points.
The National Dodgeball League (NDL) rules were created to standardize professional dodgeball matches to make them fair and consistent. All NDL sanctioned amateur, college, and youth events abide exclusively by NDL rules. The rules are subject to modification at the sole discretion of the NDL to accommodate and respond to the ever evolving game of dodgeball.
Net and wall games are court games where either a net separates the opponents or a wall serves to reflect the ball to the opponent. The object of these games is to hit the ball or bird over the net or against the wall back to the opponent. Play typically begins with one side serving the ball/bird by initially tossing or releasing it and then hitting it over the net. This then starts a rally, in which the sides alternate hitting the ball/bird over the net. Players then score points whenever the opponent fails to return the ball/bird back over the net. The criteria on what is considered a valid return varies between each sport.
Handball is a children's ball game widely documented in Australian schools, similar to downball. The rules of the game vary considerably across different sites and conditions, but it is generally played on a flat game court with lined square zones, and involves at least two players, who each occupies a square and take turns hitting a ball with their bare hands into other player's square(s). The game is very easy to set up and can be conveniently adapted to any environments where square/rectangular-lined flat grounds can be found, such as other gyms/arenas, parking spaces and even concrete slabbed driveways and footpaths.
A footbag is a small, round bag usually filled with plastic pellets or sand, which is kicked into the air as part of a competitive game or as a display of dexterity. "Hacky Sack" is the name of a brand of footbag popular in the 1970s, which has since become a generic trademark.
Roundnet is a ball game created in 1989 by Jeff Knurek, inspired primarily by concepts from volleyball. The game is played between two teams, usually with two players each. Players initially line up around a small trampoline-like net at the start of a point and starts with a serve from one team to another. Teams alternate hitting the ball back to the net.
Platform tennis is derived from tennis, developed in 1928 at Fox Meadow Tennis Club in Scarsdale, New York by James Cogswell and Fessenden Blanchard.
The Savannah Bananas are an exhibition barnstorming baseball team based in Savannah, Georgia. The team was founded in 2016 and has played at Grayson Stadium since its inaugural season. Until 2022, the Bananas competed as a collegiate summer baseball team in the Coastal Plain League's (CPL) West division, where they won three Petitt Cup championships. However, after the growth of their alternate "Banana Ball" format, the team transitioned entirely to barnstorming exhibitions against their partner touring teams, the Savannah Party Animals, the Firefighters, and other "challenger" professional teams, similar to the decades-long format of basketball's Harlem Globetrotters and their partner touring team, the Washington Generals. The team has been featured by ESPN, The Wall Street Journal, CNN 10, and Sports Illustrated because of its sports entertainment and viral videos.
A Pop-A-Shot is an electronic basketball shooting game, often in an arcade game form, that typically uses smaller scaled balls and baskets and use a sloped fabric base that returns the balls to the player as they continuously shoot.