The world's finest are coming to Guildford

It all takes place between 28 August and 1 September at Surrey Sports Park, but will have a lasting legacy, thanks to ongoing work between British Roundnet, Active Surrey and Guildford Borough Council.

Roundnet was created by an American toymaker and cartoonist, Jeff Knurek, in 1989.

It involves two teams of two players around a circular trampoline-like net; an inflatable rubber/canvas ball is served onto the net, and team mates handle it alternately, as in volleyball, a maximum of three times before it has to hit the net again.

Where the real challenge comes in is that once the ball is served, players do not have to stay on opposite sides of the net – they can move 360-degrees around it.

After undergoing a revival in the USA, partly fuelled by being aired on Shark Tank, the US-version of Dragons Den, in May 2015, Roundnet arrived in the UK the following year.

In 2018, it came to the attention of Bristol-based urban planner Jack Collard, who has been instrumental in bringing the second World Championships to the UK.

While a student at Cardiff University, Jack saw someone playing it in a park, asked if he could join in, and was well and truly bitten by the bug.

He now leads British Roundnet, which was founded in 2018 as a trustee-led, non-profit, governing body for roundnet in England, Scotland and Wales, and which was granted charitable status in February this year.

He said: “Roundnet is not yet formally registered as a sport in Great Britain but we hope that the legacy of the world cup will be that it does get registered and can grow from there.

“We’ve been working with Active Surrey and Guildford Borough Council, and when the World Championships are finished, we will be delivering free roundnet equipment and coaching to 10 local schools.”

The first World Championships took place in Belgium in 2022 and for Jack and his team, it was a huge vote of confidence in the sport for the International Roundnet Federation (IRF) to choose the Great Britain bid to host the second World Championship, especially since Jack and his small team do all their British Roundnet work voluntarily, in their ‘spare’ time.

There will be men’s, women’s and mixed competitions during the World Championships, with nations competing against each other as well as ‘individual’ competitions, where duos could find themselves competing against their national team-mates in a bid for glory.

Jack said: “The second Roundnet World Championships promises to be the biggest event in the sport’s history so far, and will be the first ever Roundnet event in the UK offering tickets for spectators.

“It’s estimated that it could have a local economic impact worth more than £650,000, which will further strength our efforts to see the sport grow.

“Roundnet features dizzying, frantic, action which never fails to draw the eye of nearby bystanders, when it’s played in a park or on a beach, who often want to have a go themselves within minutes of watching it.

“We already know that the likes of the Chelsea football team, tennis player Emma Raducanu and the Red Roses, the England Women’s Rugby team, are fans of and players of Roundnet.

“It’s certainly a great spectator sport, and we hope people of all ages will want to come and see it for themselves at the World Championships.”

Tickets cost just £3 per adult for a day, £5 for the ‘weekend finals’ and £10 for the full event. Tickets are free for spectators aged under 18.

A donation from ticket sales will be made to the Guildford Action charity.

To find out more and book your tickets, visit: www.britishroundnet.com/event-details/irf-world-championships-2024