Kickball's Comeback

Oct. 11, 2006 — -- Wouldn't it be nice to return to those wonderful days in third- or fourth-grade when your worries amounted to no more than spelling and geography tests, and who gets picked first in kickball?

Well, for an increasing number of adults, the past has become the present.

Kickball is back. Big time.

Check out parks around the country, and you are likely to bump into 20-something, 30-something, 40-something, even 50-something kickballers enjoying the renaissance in what are called recess sports.

"We forget, and we sort of just toss them aside when we reach a certain age, but a lot of these games are a helluva lot of fun," said Christopher Noxon, who wrote the book "Rejuvenile" about this back-to-the-playground movement.

Today there are kickball leagues in 20 states in this country.

Kickball has it's own governing body: the World Adult Kickball Association in Washington, D.C. On any given afternoon, government workers sweat their way through a kickball contest in the shadow of the Washington Monument.

"The city's a little serious sometimes, so it's good to just have some fun," said kickballer Dan Perez of his city and his game.

At a recent game in Denver, each player was a study in what may be kickball's primary adult appeal: relying on one's feet frees up one's hands to hold something cold, like a beer.

"I think adults are really looking to get back into recess sports," Rob Mozier said between innings -- and sips. "The only thing sore is the hangover in the morning."

Ralph Hellman is 58 and looks sane. But there he is on the kickball diamond this evening, risking all manner of pulls, strains or bruises just because "it takes me back to kindergarten -- a long time ago."

Kickball is far from the only recess sport enjoying a rebirth.

Dodgeball is big again. Amid ear-splitting thwacks in a West Coast gym recently, Tami Bahat tried to explain her love of the game.

"Why be depressed by everything that's going on in the world, ya know? Might as well get hit by some balls and think about that, ya know, those stinging injuries."