D is for Dork

So my parents are coming into town to visit on Monday and I find myself thinking "it's a good thing my brother can pick them up because I don't want to miss my kickball game." In case you're wondering, you didn't read that wrong - I play kickball and I'm proud of it! In fact, this is the fourth season that I've been playing kickball with the local division of the World Adult Kickball Association (aptly known as WAKA).

It seems that people think of kickball as something fun they used to do, or something they hated playing for fear of being picked last for the team. Either way, it's a memory of being about 5 years old. For me, I grew up in England and kickball isn't a game that British kids played back then so the concept of taking up the sport at my age was nothing if not wildly amusing.

So, what is adult kickball like you ask? Here's the lowdown.

I'm part of the team "Rhino Stampede" - which is essentially a bunch of people from my work who are truly united in geekhood through our kickball team. We play once a week at a local rec. center with the 15 other teams in our local division. Some of these teams take the game way more seriously than they should, and somewhat scare me with their overzealous nature, armed with banners and guerrilla tactics. We on the other hand are usually armed with matching stripy socks and a Rhino head (not a real one). Each game is 5 innings and there are 11 players fielding each inning, with a minimum of 4 females fielding at all times. Outside of that, standard kickball rules apply...

(Yes, I know you're trying to remember if kickball actually has rules, but I can assure you that it does).

We're about to go into the 3rd week of this season with my team, Rhino Stampede, a stunning 2 and 0, ranked a somewhat amazing 2nd with 17 runs scored in the last two games. This is quite the improvement considering at the start of last season, the kickball pundits were saying other teams must be really bad if we're able to beat them. We eventually ended last season in the final four due to vast improvements in our game and a rather shocking game of rock, paper, scissors (you think I would joke about something like that?!)


So, now you know my dirty little kickball secret, you'll be seeing updates on how the team is doing over the weeks. If you're feeling the need to revisit your childhood, go to kickball.com and see if there's a division near you!

There really is a little kid in each of us

You may be wondering what other activities I get up to when I'm not crafting. I am here to tell you about KICKBALL. Yes, the game with the big rubber ball that's kind of like baseball/softball but is generally played by 5 year olds. A couple of years ago, the company I work for found out about a kickball league close by, run by the World Adult Kickball Association, and being the nerds that we are, we started a company team - the Rhino Stampede.

Seeing as I grew up in England, kickball isn't a game that I was at all familiar with. Last "season" I decided to join the company team and find out what it was all about - has to be said, it's a lot like dork central, but a fine way to spend a Monday night! There are certainly people out there who take their kickball very seriously, having tactical meetings and secret signs for plays. Our team is the one most likely to make margaritas in Gatorade bottles and consider that an "energy drink".
My second season on the team ended last night in the semi-finals of the playoffs. Having spent most of the season doing rather badly [insert: reaction shot to our first in a string of wins], we went into the playoffs seeded 12 (out of 16 teams in our local league); however we definitely found our stride in the last few games and upset some higher seeded teams with our success.

We were finally beat by the #1 seeded team, and our bitter rivals, in the semi-finals game last night. There is no way that anybody would ever have guessed that we would get anywhere near as far as we did - in betting terms the odds were definitely long! We're kind of a Cinderella Kick-balling story...or perhaps better likened to Seabiscuit.

WE KICK BALLS!!