Let's kick it

Until your frame of mind has been changed, working out can seem terrible, hard, inconvenient, punishing and boring. An hour spent in front of the television is undoubtedly more relaxing than going to the gym and not having to drive somewhere, get all sweaty, drive back home, do your sweaty laundry and shower certainly saves more time than doing those things. Besides, even if you got the energy to go exercise, if you aren’t taking a class you probably have no idea what you’re doing and you’re sure everybody is watching you and judging your performance.

What if you could start with something much simpler? As the computer in “WarGames” put it, “Would you like to play a game?”
There is a game that you can play, right away, with no need to purchase any special equipment. In fact, I can guarantee that you could head on to the field immediately and be no worse than anybody else out there.

What magical sport is this? Kickball. And there’s a co-ed, adult league in Peachtree City signing up players and teams right now.
Adult kickball as a craze started in some of the country’s larger cities rather recently. Peachtree City’s Home Plate installed a Sunday night league on their relatively new field, “The Chuck,” last fall and there have been hundreds of area residents kicking that red ball around for months. I have been on a team since the beginning Our team name has changed several times, our most recent name is Sandlot Rejects, but the core group is the same and we have had a blast.

Kickball, in case you’ve forgotten, is just like baseball except you kick a large, red yard ball instead of trying to hit a small, white one with a bat. Like the game Othello, kickball takes a second to learn and a lifetime to master. Anyone can kick a ball, but the key is to keep it on the ground and avoid rally-killing pop-ups. There are 10 people in the field and each team must have a minimum of three women among those 10 players. Your bench can be as big as you want it to be. It seems like some teams feature entire neighborhoods. The games are nine innings long but there is also a time limit as each team tries to squeeze in two games every Sunday night.

I think kickball is awesome and it came at just the right time for me. I was just starting to get interested in getting healthy and playing for a few hours on Sunday nights counted towards my “get moving as much as possible” goal. The running involved is in short sprints - depending on where you’re playing in the field or how good the people kicking behind you are - but you can work up a bit of a sweat without feeling like you’re drowning or going to collapse. The field, which has these teeny rubber pellets among the turf, makes sliding easy (if you’re into that - and I have found that I am) and it is even better playing in the rain. The field can take up to six inches of rain an hour, so there is never any puddling.

My team has been at the middle of the pack for much of the three seasons. On any given night we can hang with anybody though and we’ve beaten every team at least once. Well, almost every team. The team known as the Hot Cheetos in season one and The Kickaholics ever since is unbeatable. They are three-time champions and they simply must be stopped. They are the New York Yankees of the league and because of that I harbor a great deal of resentment against them. On a personal level, they are all fine people. They are good-humored, relaxed and amicable. As a team, they play with the cockiness of a team that has maybe given up 20 total runs in three seasons. I will buy a drink (one) to be split amongst the members of the team that knocks them from their pedestal.

Ultimately, I think kickball is a fun way to get out and do something. You’ll meet new people, work muscles you forgot you had and will soon be itching for the next round of games. It is open to men and women ages 18 and up. The fall season will start in August, but if you want to give it a try there will be an open date July 25 at 7 p.m. For $5 you get to play two games and you get a taste of what playing adult kickball will be like.

Don’t be afraid to bring your kids or your non-playing spouses, it is a relaxed atmosphere and kids have plenty of space on the sidlelines to run around and play. For more information about adult kickball at “The Chuck,” visit www.homeplate1.com or www.eteamz.com/thechuck.

“The Chuck” is located off of TDK Boulevard in Peachtree City, close to Crosstown Rd.