By Halle Hazzard
If you’ve seen videos of soccer players kicking a ball across a curved table, you might have scrolled upon the world’s newest football-based sport, Teqball. Imagine a game that’s like soccer and table tennis combined. Sounds fun right? Soccer players across the world are being drawn to the new sport, and according to professional teqball player, Margaret Osmundson, the game is just as fun as it sounds.
As a former collegiate and professional soccer player, Osmundson always made it her goal to stay in the professional realm. So when USA Teqball offered her a job, she jumped at the opportunity right away.
“I packed up all my bags and moved down to Southern California and have been with the company now for about two years,” she said.
The game is only about a decade old, and is played on a curved table known as a Teq Table. The rising sport requires a unique set of rules in which technique is high in demand.
According to USA Teqball guidelines, the game can be played with two players, a singles match, or four players, a doubles match. To start, participants serve the ball from behind a set line. The ball must bounce over the net to the opponent’s side of the curved table to be considered a play. Players cannot use their hands to attack, and they cannot touch or return the ball with the same body part twice consecutively. And the most important rule of all:
Don't let the ball touch the ground.
“It’s a very mental game,” Osmundson said. “In soccer you can make mistakes and fix them over time, but [in teqball] those mistakes can cost you a whole game.”
The sport’s quirky nature has even garnered attention from players such as Messi, Neymar, and Ronaldinho, who like many other athletes just can’t seem to get enough of the soccer-spin off.
In addition to Teqball’s unique set of rules, singles or doubles matches can be played irrespective of age and gender, allowing men and women to play against each other as equals. As a non-contact sport, skills such as flexibility, explosiveness and mental prowess are able to trump skills such as strength or speed.
In April of 2020, Osmundson and her teqball teammates, Carolyn Greco and Nancy Aveysan, co-founded Bella Teq, the first all-female teqball club in the world. Inspired by the gender neutral rules of the game, the teqball-trio works to introduce more women to the sport by traveling to different countries and teaching young female athletes how to play the game. Its co-founders continue to bring attention to Bella Teq by playing in tournaments such as the USA Teqball Tour, Challenger cups, and World championship games.
“We know that there's still limited opportunities for female athletes today, so the big thing for us is being a driving vehicle for change in the sports landscape.” -Margaret Osmundson
While Bella Teq works to attract more female athletes to the sport, teqers like Osmundson have also advocated for the financial endorsements the sport needs to grow.
“Men and women are actually offered the same amount of prize money,” she said. “But I think the sport in general needs financial accessibility and more support from different companies and businesses.”
Due to the infancy of the sport, Osmundson was only able to receive $15,000 in the first two years of her teqball career. However, based on U.S. National Teqball Federation predictions, players may be able to receive up to $100,000 a year as prize pools continue to grow.
While the sport works to increase its player income, it also has its sights set on the L.A. Olympic Games in 2028. And with teqball continuing to gain billions of fans on social media, this goal may not be so out of reach. According to USA Teqball chief executive officer, Ajay Nwosu, the future of the sport is bright, and with the help of social media it will only continue to get more popular. So be on the lookout because Teqball is on the rise!
February 11th, 2023