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http://www.madison.com/captimes/features/29737.php

Kickball: It's not just for kids anymore

By Deborah Hirsch

July 29, 2002

How do you get 100 young professionals together for an evening of exercise?

Provide beer and a big rubber kickball, says Lynn LaRue, who attracted that many participants to play weekly games at Wingra Park this past spring.

On Saturday, at least eight teams of about 20 people will compete for a cash prize in a one-day summer kickball tournament.

"It's quite hilarious to watch and to play," LaRue says. "I was very happy with the turnout." The 23-year-old student began organizing the kickball league in January as a branch of the Midwest Unconventional Sports Association, a group that her brother-in-law initiated in Milwaukee in 2000. Now, more than 1,800 adults participate in the Milwaukee group, competing in anything from dodgeball games to Big Wheel races. Smaller MUSA groups have started up in Oshkosh and Green Bay.

So far MUSA has been a great success in Madison, the kickball players say

. "It's kind of nice to have a change of pace, and it's a range of skill levels," says Bob Zeinemann, a 30-year-old urban planner for the state. "No one has a lot of experience playing kickball, so I think that kind of helps level out the skill level."

Zeinemann says participating in the league made him feel young because it brought back memories of kickball games he played during grade school. Except now some of the players carry bottles of alcohol while in position on the field, which they have to quickly set down to catch fly balls, he says.

Veterinarian Erika Treichel says she never liked kickball as a child, but the adult league "ended up being a whole lot of fun." Her teammates even made tie-dyed T-shirts to identify themselves as the "Slow and Baby Bouncers," which refers to a name for a kind of pitch.

Treichel, 33, says she doesn't know if her team will compete in the summer tournament, but she'll be back for the fall league.

"I'd recommend it to anybody," she says. "You can have people play it just for fun, so it's not ultra-competitive."

LaRue says the Madison MUSA might offer more kinds of "unconventional" sports in the future. But for now she's concentrating on kickball for the upcoming summer competition and fall season.

The double-elimination tournament will begin at noon Saturday on the softball field at Demetral Park, off of Packers Avenue on the east side. The team registration fee is $100, which will go toward park rental and equipment costs.

The kickball league will resume in September, also at Demetral Park. A T-shirt is included with the $23 registration charge.

For more information, contact MUSA at 236-1993 or visit
www.musakickball.com