by Diana Timmermans |

Hantis is the full body fulfillment of table tennis. Fun and inclusive by design, players of any fitness level can learn in under 20 minutes. Your favorite sport is about to change.
Hantis has caught on so much at Liberty High School that for a section of the KLHS telethon on April 13, there will be a competitive Hantis tournament. There will be 64 teams of two.
“We are going to host a Hantis tournament at Liberty North for our annual telethon. It’s going to be a March Madness style event. The students love the game, and we know it will attract a lot of students to the telethon. We couldn’t be more excited to have a new sport be a major event for our telethon. It really is amazing how popular the sport is with Liberty students,” senior Tommy Kackley said.
Hantis is a high-energy sport consisting of four players, four tables and one tennis ball. A few high school students in Georgetown, Kentucky created Hantis in 2005. The game has been sweeping the nation ever since then. The four co-creators are Thaxton Marshall, Ben Fatherree, Jason Johns, and Joe Wallin. The Hantis creators, or “Craters” as they call themselves, have been visiting Kansas City metro schools, doing demos and starting the addicting spark, which is Hantis.
“The way the game is designed and the way it plays out you don’t have to be super huge and muscular or really tall to play,” said Hantis co-creator Thaxton Marshall.
There are two styles of Hantis, Competition and freestyle. Freestyle Hantis is for four or more players. This type of game play is sort of like four square, when a player gets out, they go to the back of the line. The first person in line goes to the first table and the other three players rotate toward the serving table. The rotation gets everyone involved and allows for teammates to change. Each player is allowed one table hit and you are allowed to hit the ball twice with your hand.  This is great for parties or just hanging out with some friends.
Competition style Hantis is a bit different; it is two versus two and the first pair to have 21 points wins, and must win by two points. You score points by getting an out. There are the five total ways to make an out. An out occurs when the ball hits the player’s table then hits the ground, the ball hits the player then hits the ground, the ball is cupped in a player’s hand, the ball hits the player’s table twice, or if the ball hits the player 3 times. Outs apply to both types of play.