Issue

During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, finding ways to stay active outside while at home in the suburbs became increasingly more challenging. A favorite pass-time of my husband, his 13 year old sister and I is playing sports together. With more and more community fields and parks shutting down to discourage public gathering, we needed a solution for playing sports outside without disturbing the neighbors in our suburb. A major downside of trying to play sports in a backyard with limited space is that the balls will sometimes get launched over the fence of neighbors, or over the fence and into the street behind the house. The ideal solution was a way to prevent those balls from leaving the backyard. An additional restraint was that the HomeOwners Association prevents any visual obstruction that is visible from the street.

Solution

The solution was the design and implementation of a retractable volleyball and soccer net that stands 12 feet tall when retracted and covers the perimeter of the backyard, excluding the back of the house. Three 8 foot tall PVC pipes were cemented into the ground at three of the corners of the backyard. Three more pipes were placed over top with holes drilled through  such that the pipes can be raised and retracted. A fourth support on the last corner was placed into a tree with a pulley system. A large net was hung from a metal wire running along the perimeter with weights placed at the bottom.

Result

The result was a net that, when raised, prevented 95% of volleyball and soccer balls from leaving the backyard. The retractability of the net allowed for it to be hidden from street view, which pleased the HomeOwners Association. A couple areas of improvement would be the need to raise each pillar individually, and the weights on the ground prevent the user from being able to mow the lawn easily without raising the net and moving the weights. In the next design, a connected support bar and motor can be attached to decrease the time it takes to raise and lower the net. Additionally, the net can be shortened with the weights hanging from the net instead of resting on top of it so that the user can easily maintain the grass.