Headis is what you get when you combine table tennis and soccer
If you haven't yet heard of Headis, the video below will make you wish you had.
The sport is a combination of table tennis and soccer -- think ping pong with your face -- and was invented in 2006 by a German man named Rene Wegner, known by some in the Headis community as "Headi Potter."
The official ball is made of soft rubber and is 50 centimeters around and weighs 100 grams, making it roughly two-thirds the size and a quarter the weight of a FIFA soccer ball. And if these world-class players are to be believed, you can make it do whatever you want with a simple flick of your neck:
Was für Kämpfer! HEADIS
Posted by WELT Sport on Saturday, January 23, 2016
The game has seen modest gains in popularity over the years since its creation -- there were at least 2,000 official Headis balls sold in 2014, compared to 1,300 in 2013, according to the Wall Street Journal -- and these guys, competing at the 2016 Headis Masters tournament earlier this month in Karlsruhe, Germany, make it easy to understand why.
So far, it hasn't caught on in the U.S. quite like it has in Europe, but in a country where colleges have quidditch teams, it seems it's only a matter of time before it's the latest craze on campuses across America.
