From playing the game over a net made of hazard tape to gearing up for a series against Australia, the New Zealand Fistball Association has come a long way in a short space of time.

While not a well-known sport in New Zealand, a bit of Kiwi ingenuity and word of mouth has help the Christchurch-based association build from a group of colleagues trying it out in 2016, to a number of players keen and eager to get involved.

Fistball is a sport similar to volleyball, in which two teams of five try to score points by knocking a ball over the net and past their opponents, with each team allowed three hits per possession.

“Waiting for correct equipment we had to find an alternative. Being from shake city Christchurch we used what we did have access to – danger tape,” New Zealand Fistball Association president Blase Dowall said.

Dowall hoped the sport might take off in New Zealand one day, and likened the New Zealand team’s involvement in it to that of the Jamaican Bobsled team who competed at the 1988 Winter Olympics.

“After stumbling across videos of the sport online it prompted a few work colleagues to throw up a net and give it a go. Colleagues talked to colleagues who talked to spouses and friends and it became clear we found a sport that people really enjoyed,” he said.

What started off as some friends competing against each other in a new and interesting sport soon turned into the establishment of two rival clubs, with both men’s and women’s teams, who compete in the sport’s Canterbury-based domestic league.

With the sport gaining traction, the group established the New Zealand Association with the desire to pioneer fistball here and open the door to international competition.

“Now we have the reality of our teams pulling on the black jersey, singing the national anthem and competing against other fistball nations.”

While the Association was still in the pioneering stages, they had been officially welcomed as the newest member of the International Fistball Association and the recognised governing body of the sport in New Zealand.

“[The International Association] have been hugely supportive of what we are doing, including sending fistball equipment, which is not readily available in our area of the world, to us.

“The IFA’s motto is ‘fistball all over the world’ and even with our very humble beginnings they are just thrilled to have New Zealand involved.”

The Association soon held trials to select a New Zealand team, nicknamed the Fistferns, to head to Australia for a three-match series over Waitangi Weekend for their debut on the world stage.

“They’re currently the Oceania champs because they’re the only team in the area who played it until now, so they’re stoked to have us involved because we’ll be able to get more games in.”