SALT LAKE CITY — Around 200 twenty-somethings, among others, gather each Thursday evening in a large, grassy quadrangle at Salt Lake's Liberty Park.
Different groups dress in matching colors of red, brown, blue, pink as cries, screams, shouts and laughter float around the square from a few friendly games of kickball.
That's right. Kickball — for adults, that is?
"It's just like a cool thing to do; I really like it," says kickball enthusiast Eva Chavez, who has been playing for several seasons. A sport that many adults haven't played since grade school days is gaining new appeal to grownups nationwide, its promoters say.
"I mean, it's awesome," continues Chavez, a 26-year-old Salt Lake financial services worker. "Look how much fun everyone is having."
Every Thursday after work, she and a co-worker hurry from their downtown cubicles for their weekly kickball fix. It's a way for them to relieve stress, hang out with others, and just get outside and be more active, Chavez says.
A force behind the retro-playground sport movement is WAKA, the World Adult Kickball Association. Formed in 1998, adult kickball's governing body unabashedly promotes the game as "a co-ed social sport," with "no athletic skills required."
The latest singles scene?
"There have been hundreds of successful relationships, even marriages, resulting from adult kickball," according to WAKA promotional material.
Clarence Willardsen, a Salt Lake WAKA organizer, puts his league's single-to-married ratio at about 3-to-1. "We just had two marriages last season," he said.
Chavez downplays the single-scene angle. She is single herself, but her teammate/co-worker is married and plays alongside her husband. It's really more about just having fun, Chavez says.
But social events come along with the on-field play. WAKA leagues hold weekly "after-parties," that bring together all the teams' players. WAKA advertises itself as a chance to "meet, socialize and network with hundreds of local area adults."
The games bring all sorts together, Willardsen adds. "Doctors, nurses, plumbers, teachers — even lawyers." Even lawyers? Willardsen pauses to re-phrase. "Well … you usually don't think of lawyers doing something like this."
Willardsen's league holds off-the-field parties twice a season. This year the parties will raise money for the Utah Food Bank — WAKA leagues commit to supporting a charity every season. And the gatherings let players build on friendships formed on the field.
"It's a chance to mingle and not wear your kickball shirts," he says. "You get to see what people look like outside of kickball."
Joel Carson, a mid-life Salt Lake real estate agent is playing for the first time. He agreed to give the league a try after a friend told his wife about it. At first, he thought, "Kickball — that should be easy," Carson says.
But now, partway through his first adult kickball game, he thinks again. "I don't know. I played softball before, but you look at how these guys pitch," Carson says, motioning to the pitcher who sidearms a ball, with a little forward spin motion, sharply to the plate. "It's pretty hard."
Willardsen stands to the side of one of four makeshift kickball diamonds — only rubber bases and plastic cones mark the fields. The sport in Utah started with just a few Salt Lake City teams in 2006, he says, growing to four leagues, all within Salt Lake Valley.
Two leagues play in Salt Lake City, another in Holladay, and a fourth just started in Sandy this year. Others are coming soon in Ogden, Riverton, West Valley City and maybe Provo, Willardsen says.
A electrical product companies, Willardsen keeps 16 teams on schedule, four games at a time, while also playing on a team. His league's roster is full. "I have to kick teams off that want to play. There aren't enough fields to play on."
A team can have between eight and 11 players in the field. At least four must be "girls" and four "boys," Willardsen says. There are two seasons a year; his league's fall season runs July to October.
Someone yells Willardsen's name. It's his ups. He hurries to home plate and lofts a high, hard shot above a man and woman playing centerfield. The red playground-style ball sails over their heads as they retreat to get it.
But Willardsen is already rounding first. The ball comes back as he nears third. A teammate waves him on. Just 10 feet from home plate, a quick toss hits him in the back — out. There are smiles, laughs and cheers all around.
Mostly, adult kickball gets people outdoors, away from the TV or computer, bringing people together doing something fun that just about anyone can play, Willardsen says — like when adults were kids. After all, he says, "Everyone can catch a ball."
Email: lbrubaker@desnews.com