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Kicking into gear: Adult kickball is a growing movement
Michael Rand, Star Tribune
June 29, 2004

Statistics offer compelling evidence of kickball's rise as an adult co-ed recreational sport in the Twin Cities. The two largest adult leagues had more than 50 teams competing this spring, and both of them have at least tripled in size in only two years.

But for more empirical evidence of the rocket-like rise of this playground game, let's shift the scene to a local bar a couple of weeks ago. A kickballer was celebrating a recently completed league game when he thought he spotted two players from the opposing team, the Superstars. He shouted out to them "Superstars!" -- and what ensued was confusion. These two women did not, indeed, play for the Superstars. They did, however, play kickball in a different league, on a different night, for a team called the Ball Stars.

This must be how it felt in Seattle a decade ago when someone thought they spotted members of Alice in Chains at a coffee shop, but really it was Pearl Jam. That scene was crowded with grunge rockers. This one is jam-packed with kickball players trying to recapture their youth by engaging in an activity a little less demanding than softball.

Jen Bruning, who coordinates the Twin Cities chapter of the Midwest Unconventional Sports Association, said there were 12 teams when her organization started kickball here in the fall of 2002. Now, she keeps tabs on 52 teams and expects that number to grow to at least 70 in the fall.

MUSA started kickball in Milwaukee about five years ago with six teams. At its various sites in Wisconsin and the Twin Cities, there are now more than 200 kickball teams. The annual all-league tournament was two weekends ago, and the winning team took home the coveted Golden Lunchbox.

"I actually thought that by now it would be a passing fad and be over with," Bruning said. "I had no idea it would be as big as it is."

Indeed, though, it is all the rage. Cities Sports Connection has seen its roster of teams grow from 18 to 54 in little over a year. It, too, is expecting further increases in the fall. Several suburban park and recreation boards now offer kickball. Fourteen teams play in leagues run by South of the River Recreators, which includes eight southern suburbs. Kickball has also caught fire in St. Louis Park and Plymouth, among other places.

"We started talking about games we played as kids," said Marcie Padgett, a recreation supervisor with Apple Valley's park and rec. Padgett said the city also had a five-team whiffle ball league in the winter and is considering adding dodgeball, which is threatening to become another hot retro sport based on the success of the movie.

The appeal

The basic rules of kickball are similar to baseball -- with the main difference being, of course, that instead of hitting a hard, leather-covered ball, one kicks a bouncy rubber ball.

It requires no more than a ball and a field (typically a softball diamond), games move quickly (seven innings normally take about 45 minutes) and enthusiasm is more important than athletic ability.

"It's an adult sport where maybe 100 percent of the players wouldn't be comfortable playing softball," said Pat Barbatsis, co-owner of Cities Sports Connection. "Kickball hit a certain niche perfectly."

It's also an excuse to socialize. Bruning, 29, was re-introduced to her fiancé through kickball, and half of her wedding party "is probably kickball-related."

Players cover a wide age spectrum, though 25 to 30 seems to be the target demographic. It is still silly enough, though, that adults are often skeptical in the beginning. News of a kickball team often travels from friend to friend, with the sentiment starting at "You're doing what?" moving toward "Hmm" and ending in, "Hey, I want to play, too."

"I came and watched a game, and I thought they were crazy -- but curiously crazy," said Grace Cavanaugh, 26, a financial planner who lives in Plymouth and plays in a MUSA league for a team named the Tatertot Zombies. She decided to give kickball a shot for the same reason as many others: "With softball, you feel like you're either good at it or bad at it. It's all fair game with kickball."

Johnnie Workman, 25, a gardener from Minneapolis, makes weekly treks to Bloomington for a kickball fix for a more specific reason.

"I have a knee injury that basically doesn't allow me to turn right without pain," he said. "It was a chance to be active again.

Rounding the bases -- which Workman did several times in helping Meow to a 16-2 MUSA playoff victory Friday over Picked Last -- is strictly a left-turn proposition.

Workman worked his way on base once with a bunt -- a move that is illegal in Cities Sports Connection games. MUSA also uses smaller balls than CSC, allows pitchers to spin the ball (a CSC no-no) and has players from other teams umpire games (as opposed to providing umps, which the CSC does).

Sounds like a brewing kickball league rivalry.

"Not really," Bruning said with a laugh.

Apparently, there's enough interest to satisfy everyone. It's a far cry from kickball's humble beginnings.

"Some people wouldn't rent me fields at first because they thought it sounded ridiculous," Bruning said.

Now kickball's biggest future crisis could be finding enough fields to meet demand. Though softball players no longer look at kickballers with goofy stares, they do take up a lot of space.

Said Barbatsis: "If we could run 1,000 kickball teams a week, we would do it."

The way things are going, that time might come.

Michael Rand is at mrand@startribune.com