Wednesday, May 19, 2010

RRR - Winter League Grand Champs on TBO.com!!!

Time to get the ball rolling
By KENNETH KNIGHT
kknight@tampatrib.com
Published: May 19, 2010

TEMPLE CREST - On the job Tampa police spokeswoman Andrea Davis is a calm and focused professional, but every Tuesday after work she becomes a kickball warrior.
"Run, run, run," screamed Davis, jumping up and down as a teammate rounded second base.
It was the first night of the spring season, and Davis and her teammates on The Children Left Behind, a team of mostly TPD employees, were in a heated battle with veteran opponent Team Flugelhorn.
The Children Left Behind team played valiantly but lost its debut game 12-8.
But were they completely focused on the game? Could the presence of their nemesis, Blues on First, the veteran police department squad playing on an adjacent field, have weighed heavily on their minds?
"They wouldn't let us play" on their team, said Shar Ishee, coach of The Children Left Behind, laughing. "Now we have a pretty big rivalry.
"The other team thinks we are taking it too seriously, but we want to win."
Both squads are itching for the big showdown Tuesday night.
Tampa Police Chief Jane Castor is scheduled to roll the first ball before the teams square off at 7 p.m. at the sports field at Regnas Avenue and 46th Street in Temple Crest.

The rivalry is all in good, clean fun, said Kermit Kauffman, co-founder of Kickball Society of Tampa Bay. It is part of the excitement of playing in the adult kickball organization founded a year ago this month.
In its second year, participation in Kickball Society of Tampa Bay has more than doubled. The organization that launched with 16 teams in May 2009 has grown to 35 squads and more than 600 players.

The schoolyard game you played in grade school is making a comeback as a sport for adults.
Scores of young people, baby boomers, empty nesters and people from all backgrounds in the Tampa Bay area and across the nation are flocking to play. They are rediscovering the joy, physical benefits and friendships associated with kicking a large orange ball and trying to avoid getting tagged before reaching home plate.
Players start as young as 21. The oldest player on a Kickball Society team this season is 62, Kauffman said.

Kickball Society fields three leagues played at two locations in Hillsborough County. Games are played on Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings for six weeks before wrapping up with championship tournaments in mid-June.
The TPD teams are among 11 squads in the Temple Terrace Busch League, which plays Tuesdays at the sports field on Regnas Avenue. The Northdale Kickers and Northdale Champs play Sundays and Wednesdays respectively at the soccer fields on Northdale Boulevard.

On the first Tuesday night of the season, cheers and screams of support echoed across the field, where three games were being played simultaneously. Music cranked from a booming car stereo.

Third Base With Your Mom took down Blues on First by one run. Red Rockets Repeat!!, a new version of winter league grand champions Red Rockets Reloaded, were hot and ready to roll as were Huge in Japan and Drunk Again and Lookin' to Score.

"It's as much a social event as it is an athletic one," Kauffman said.
The leagues schedule theme nights and contests to offer players a chance to socialize on and off the field.

Jon Dunshee, 30 and a biomedical engineer, said the name of his squad, Team Flugelhorn, is a good example of off-the-field antics.
"It was a drunken mistake," Dunshee said laughing.
A lot of team strategy is decided over beers at Gaspar's, Dunshee quipped. The pub at 56th Street and Riverhills Drive is a popular gathering spot for the teams after the matches.
"We like to drink after the game win or lose," Kick Ballz captain Sam Coccia said.
A year ago, Sylvia Pankiewicz, 26 and a market manager at a freight center, didn't know her teammates on Team Flugelhorn, a combination of players from former Bushwhacker I and II teams. She now considers them close friends.
"We get together on weekends," she said. "Everyone has really been wonderful and super fun to hang out with."
Pankiewicz got her boyfriend, Joe Christophersen,involved. He is now the team captain.

The family-like atmosphere is a draw for parents with young children, said Rosemary Curtiss, who co-owns Kickball Society of Tampa Bay with her husband, Wayne, and Kauffman.
Kauffman and Rosemary Curtiss are former executives at The Tampa Tribune.
Such family fun may attest for the popularity of the game in the area. In addition to Kickball Society of Tampa Bay, two other adult kickball organizations, the World Adult Kickball Association and Tampa Bay Club Sport, have leagues in Tampa.


1 comment:

Nate Dawg said...

Dont care...and I play on the team, I can imagine other people really dont care...