Kick it! Not just for kids, kickball finds new legs

Tie game. Championship on the line. Bases loaded, two outs, 3-2 count. The pitcher focuses, steps forward, and rolls the ball.

Kickball, the unofficial game of fifth grade that marries baseball, soccer, and dodgeball, is now thriving. The 21-and-over World Adult Kickball Association (WAKA) plans to have 80 divisions in more than 20 cities this year, with up to 25,000 players (53% of them female) signing on.

In case you grew up in a communist, non-kickball-playing country, the game is like baseball, with players at the regular positions (plus two extra fielders). The ball is bouncy and larger than a basketball, so don't expect any "web gems" on ESPN. But fielders can peg runners to get them out--as long as they don't go for the head. And, unlike baseball, kickball appears to be a steroid-free sport.

BOOTING UP

The WAKA was born in 1998, when four twenty-somethings were drinking beers in Washington, D.C., and reminiscing about their favorite childhood game. They half jokingly decided to form a team and a league.

Within a few weeks, the "joke" was a reality with 150 players, a Web site (worldkickball.com), and a business model. Soon email from all over the world poured in, and WAKA went global. It's now starting divisions in the Czech Republic and India. "Our job is to promote kickball," says co-founder Johnny LeHane. "What could be better?"

GAME ON

In the game I played in D.C., my team, 2 Hype, lost 6-0, done in by weak kicking and a right-fielder who dropped four line drives, blaming the ball for being "too bouncy." Afterward, both teams met at a local bar for some drinks.

D.C. squads vie for two titles: the spring's Founder's Cup and the fall's President's Cup. "As a team, we've got a synergy of skills that stands out," says Jamie Magee of My Left Foot, current F.C. champions.

Of course, winning isn't everything--nailing people is. As Kathryn Tucker, Courtesy Flush's ace pitcher, says, "Nothing beats pegging someone with a big red ball."

COPYRIGHT 2004 Weider Publications
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning