The core ask
Play in a playtest
The first playtests need players more than anything else. Come to a pickup game, learn the rules in a few minutes, and tell us what works and what doesn't. All levels are welcome and no experience is needed.
Get involved
Help build
a new sport.
Gridball is a co-ed team sport built on the foundations of four square, and it was born in Miami. It is at the very beginning. The people who join now help shape how it is played.
Where things stand: the first playtests are being planned. No NGL event has happened yet, not even a first playtest. They will start as informal pickup games among friends and community members, on a court marked out with chalk or tape.
01 · Ways to get involved
Find your
way in.
Four square spread because people played it and taught it to their friends. Gridball can grow the same way. Pick whatever suits you; you can do more than one.
Bring it to your area
Host a pickup playtest
Have access to a park, an outdoor court, a church gym or a rec center? Mark out a Grid with chalk or tape, grab a playground ball and run a pickup game with the Quick Play Guide. NGL can share the rules and help you get started.
A hosted pickup game is a casual game among friends, not an official NGL event. Check with the venue before you mark the floor.
Spread the word
Bring your friends
Know someone who loved four square at recess, or a group that's always looking for a game? Send them this page, bring them to a playtest, or pass along the rules.
Create
Capture it first
Photographers, videographers and writers: there is no footage of Gridball being played yet. The first playtests will be the first. If you want to document a new sport from its first game, tell us.
Officiate
Become an Officiator
Every Gridball match has four Officiators, one per side of the Grid. Learn the role with the Game Officials Handbook: positions, signals and match procedure. Level 1 certification is planned, but there is no test or clinic to sign up for yet.
Later · organized events
Crew for organized events
As NGL grows, organized events will have a paid crew: event operations, match operations, media and first aid. Register interest now to be first in line.
Partner or sponsor
Back the first exhibition
Local businesses, schools and rec centers can become Founding Partners, with cash, venue time or other support in kind.
02 · How it starts
Pickup first.
Then the rest.
Before clubs, kits or arenas, Gridball needs to be played, argued over and played again. This is what the first playtests will look like.
- Where
- A park, an outdoor court, a church gym or a rec center.
- The Grid
- A 24 × 24 ft square split into four quadrants, in chalk outdoors or painter's tape indoors.
- The ball
- Any standard playground ball.
- Who
- Friends and community members. Two players from each team are on the Grid at a time; everyone else rotates in.
Now
Pickup playtests
Informal games among friends and community members, to test the rules and find out what is fun.
Next
Organized events
Planned events with a paid crew, made possible by sponsorship.
Long term
A league
Clubs, collared kits and purpose-built arenas. These are concepts today: the long game.
No dates or venues are set for any of these yet. When the first playtest is confirmed, it will appear on Events.
03 · Organized events
First in line
for the crew.
Pickup playtests don't need a crew: they are casual games among friends. As NGL grows, organized events will have a paid crew. People who register interest here hear about crew roles first.
Event operations
Setup, check-in and keeping the day on schedule.
Match operations
Scoring, the clock and the Officials Table.
Media
Photo, video, the stream and social.
First aid
Care for players and crew on site.
Registering interest is not a job application or an offer. Crew roles open as organized events are planned and funded, and the details, including pay, will be shared before anyone commits.
04 · Join in
Tell us how
you'd like to join.
Pick the closest fit and add a line about where you are and what you'd like to do. NGL's founder reads every message and follows up directly.
Registering is an expression of interest. It is not a booking, a job application or a commitment.
Just want to play? This form works, or use Get on the Grid, which also asks for your city.
Questions? Email nglgridball@gmail.com.
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