Remember when all you needed was an open field, a giant bouncing ball and home plate to have fun and make new friends playing a pickup game of kickball?
For adults in their 20s and older, there are still opportunities to recapture the excitement of playing kickball while developing friendships, connecting with present and future co-workers and potentially meeting your spouse.
Over the past few years, the popularity of adult recreation leagues with a focus on sports like kickball has provided the over-21 crowd with increased opportunities for social networking.
Three associations dominate the market for adult kickball from Richmond to Hampton Roads, and according to representatives from World Association for Adult Recreation (WAAR), World Adult Kickball Association (WAKA) and Kickball League of Hampton Roads (KLHR), the social opportunities that kickball provides can be far-reaching.
“The social aspects there are endless,” explains Kristen Sargent, former senior customer service manager for WAKA who was involved in organizing the Richmond and Hampton Roads leagues from 2012 – 2016.
Sargent began playing kickball in 2005 as a way to meet new friends after graduating from college and moving to a new city. She has lived everywhere from Maine to Salt Lake City and has joined a kickball team in every new town. She even met her husband playing kickball. “It’s an instant network of people,” she says. “I can’t imagine my life without it.”
Sargent is one of many in the kickball community that met their significant other through playing the game. Brent Wentworth, customer service representative and commissioner of the WAKA League in Hampton met his fiancée playing kickball, Sargent explains. Moreover, the association founders came up with the idea for WAKA, one of the first kickball associations in the country, in 1998 in a D.C. bar as a way to make friends and meet girls.
“The social aspects there are endless.”
Sargent and Ned Griffith, founder of WAAR, explain that although neither association has documented the exact number of relationships that began through kickball, several WAAR and WAKA marriages began on the kickball field or at the bar following a game.
For Rhiannon Lovett, kickball player and former vice president of the Chesapeake WAAR league who was married with a career and children when she began playing kickball in 2010, kickball was an opportunity for she and her husband to meet other couples with similar interests. “I like being able to be engaged in something that both my husband and I enjoy,” Lovett says. “It’s not something that only a guy is going to be good at or only a girl is going to be good at.”
Lovett organized her first WAAR team involving 26 of her co-workers and her spouse. Playing kickball is a good way to build relationships with co-workers of both genders and varying skill levels, she explains.
All three associations make an effort to provide equal playing time to both genders. WAAR and KLHR require that there be at least four females on each team and four females on the field at all times. WAKA requires there to be at least four females and four males on the field at all times.
Players’ ages also vary from 21 to 60 years old. “It’s a sport anyone can play,” explains Scott Guirlinger, commissioner of KLHR adding that many people already understand the rules. “It was a recess or playground game for many people.”
All three associations are set-up to provide players with several social opportunities. After games, players are encouraged to visit the bar that sponsors their league or division to socialize with teammates and members of other teams in their league or division. Most of the sponsoring bars offer special discounts to players.
All associations host at least two league-wide parties per season and encourage players to participate in special team and league events.
WAKA provides leagues with a social budget and encourages them to host theme nights. Some leagues have hosted ’80s nights or cowboy and cowgirl nights in which players come to the field or bar in costume, Sargent explains.
WAAR, has arranged with its sponsoring bars to offer free food and drinks to the winning teams after each game.
Although, Lovett and her husband enjoy the post-game festivities, they are not always able to get a babysitter, but most of all they enjoy participating in the games, watching other teams play and planning special events with teammates—like the tubing trip on the James River they took last season.
The Chesapeake kickball location has a playground where Lovett’s children play with other children whose parents are in the league. It is a family environment, she explains. “Our kids are getting exercise, and we’re getting exercise.”
“It’s nice to be out and doing something while your mind is not jumbled with the responsibilities of grown-up life,” she says. “I know Friday night I’m putting all of that aside and playing kickball.”
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- WAAR hosts spring, summer and fall seasons in Newport News, Chesapeake, Virginia Beach and Williamsburg. WAAR hosts a winter bowling league in Norfolk and a winter dodgeball league in Newport News; however, it offers an assortment of adult social sports including ultimate disc, soccer, flag football and disc golf. WAAR hopes to expand into other cities in Hampton Roads and Richmond. Registration for summer kickball league is open now for most cities. Visit teamwaar.com
- WAKA hosts spring, fall and winter seasons in Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Hampton. In Richmond, WAKA hosts spring and fall kickball seasons and a winter dodgeball league. WAKA extended spring registration in Richmond, so that players may continue to sign-up for kickball until April 5, the first week of the season. Registration for fall kickball will be available online in mid-April. WAKA is the only one of the three associations that offers its winning teams the opportunity to compete in a national tournament in Las Vegas. Visit clubwaka.com for more information.
- KLHR hosts spring and fall leagues in Norfolk and Virginia Beach. Sign-ups for the KLHR season begin July 1. Unlike the two larger leagues, players can sign-up for KLHR online or in person. The schedule for in person sign-ups will be online. Visit kickballhamptonroads.com for more information.
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For all associations, players can sign-up as individuals, as groups or as entire teams. All leagues are hoping to expand their program into other cities. Anyone interested in beginning a league in their city should contact the respective league.
Originally Published: April 2, 2012
Updated: April 11, 2019