Organizers of a popular youth football tournament in Roswell have decided to pull the plug on the event.
KRQE reported that Hike It and Spike It will no longer be held, citing the COVID-19 pandemic.
The last tournament occurred proximately two years ago.
Despite the availability of vaccines, the uncertainty associated with the pandemic – and an inability to find someone else to take the reins – prompted event officials to permanently end it.
Hike It and Spike It drew thousands of players and spectators to Roswell annually, which can't help but make event organizer James Matteucci smile.
“Twenty-five years of an amazing event is something that we are extremely proud of and we know that this is a sad day for a lot of people that have grown up with Hike It and Spike It,” Matteucci, who oversaw the tournament with Clayton Avery since its inception, told the station. But, he said, “this was the right time” for Hike It and Spike It to end.
The tournament’s popularity for more than quarter century translated into $4 million for Roswell’s economy every late May. KRQE reported that one of Hike It and Spike It’s out-of-state partners, Michigan-based PS Sports Inc., intends to revive the event in the future.