Inventor hopes to revive little-known ball sport

VX was invented in North Yorkshire nearly 20 years ago

The inventor of a little-known ball sport hopes to revive it for the international stage.

Paul Hildreth, who started VX, said "the best sport you've never heard of" was born in North Yorkshire about 20 years ago and quickly gained popularity.

"There are no goals, no zones, no markings, no targets," he said.

"Americans call it dodgeball on steroids, we call it a dash of dodgeball, a pinch of pelota, a little lacrosse and a hint of hockey."

Paul explained VX was played with VstiX, a control stick with lacrosse-like catchers on either end, and sports balls, similar to tennis balls but softer.

"It was a misunderstanding," he said of VX's origins.

"One of my clients rang me one day and described to me what he was holding and I got totally the wrong end of the stick.

"I imagined people running around, pulling triggers and firing tennis balls at each other."

Although what the client had did not fit with what he had imagined, he was struck by the idea of "throwing balls at people".

A company then helped to redesign the VstiX and VX was launched.

Paul Hildreth said VX was born from a "misunderstanding"

The goal of VX is to scoop up the ball and hit your opponent for a point.

Unlike dodgeball, you are not out if you are hit but if you catch a ball, you are awarded three points.

It was first trialled by a school, before its official launch at a conference in 2006.

"It just ticked all their boxes," Paul said.

"It gets non-sporty kids involved, it’s gender neutral, it’s inclusive, you can get kids playing at a fast pace.

"We’ve got very sporty players but we’ve also got a lot of players that do no other sports whatsoever."

At its peak, thousands of school pupils were playing VX, as well as prisoners, those in the military and university students.

Tom Hildreth, Paul's son, is the reigning world champion in VX

International competitions, including a quadrennial team world cup and annual singles world cup, saw 26 different countries adopt VX.

Reigning world champion in the sport, Tom Hildreth, has been playing for about 20 years, so had "been everywhere, done it all and seen it all".

"Paul is the inventor and I’m his son so I didn’t have a lot of choice to be honest," he laughed.

"I remember being 13 and my friend and I were in the garden practising throwing balls with early prototypes- a drainpipe with two scoops on the end."

The singles world cup in 2019 saw Tom Hildreth compete in York.

"The crowds and the noise were absolutely indescribable," Paul recalled.

"That tournament really did have everything."

Revival plans

Since then, sports partnerships and development in schools grinded to a halt, which was worsened by the pandemic.

Paul said some clubs have gone and they were "focusing more on schools" to try and revive its popularity and drum up enthusiasm for the sport.

He is also intending to head to Kenya to help it grow in East Africa.

"It’s struggling here perhaps but schools are starting to see the benefit again," the inventor said.

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