Kickball isn't just for kids anymore.

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Top: Graham Payer, of Medford, reaches out for the ball to try to stop Chuck Dye from making it safely to second base. Above: Jessica Bartolome kicks from home plate during a game of kickball with her team, Tag Quest on Tuesday.Jim Craven

October 19, 2008

By Chris Conrad

Mail Tribune

Can't hit a 90-mph fastball? Not tall enough to dunk a basketball? Never put on a pair of ice skates?

Then kickball is the sport for you. And it's not just for kids anymore.

Medford's Parks and Recreation department has organized an adult co-ed fall kickball league for those who yearn to relive the glorious game of our childhoods.

"It makes you feel like a kid again," said Brandt Summers, who discovered the sport during a recent trip to Florida. "Actually, it's even more fun when you are an adult."

Six teams are vying for the league's championship to be held later this fall at the U.S. Cellular Community Park Field off South Pacific Highway between Phoenix and Medford.

The teams square off at 6 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

On Thursday, the short-handed Tag Quest Shockers locked horns with Ignition in a warm-up for the coming tournament.

The rules are simple. A large rubber ball is rolled slowly toward a kicker, whose job is to boot it as far as humanly possible. The rest resembles a chaotic form of baseball, as the kicker burns around bases hoping to avoid being tagged by the ball. Fielders can either step on a base or pick off the runner with the ball to make an out.

It's not as easy as it looks to get on base.

Crystal Heath, a kickballer since fifth grade, put everything into a kick that is snagged by the short stop running to his left.

"Next time I'm going to wear steel-toed shoes," she said.

Steve Blumberg, of team Ignition, blasted a shot to deep left field. With a triple in mind he pounded the bases before being pegged at third on a bang-bang play.

"It was late in the inning," Blumberg said, walking off the field. "No guts, no glory."

Curt Snow remembers the fierce kickball games of his grade school days, when the kids battled on pavement and gravel lots. The Medford league is laid back, though the games remain competitive.

Good-natured rivalries are present. The Tag Quest Shockers are hungry for victory against the Lithia Ligars, Snow said.

"It brings the community together," Snow added. "It is an inclusive game. Everybody understands rolling a ball and kicking it."

Referee Chuck Hanson admires the purity of kickball in comparison to other organized sports.

"They play for the sheer enjoyment," Hanson said. "It's a slower paced game than softball or basketball, but you see bigger smiles."

Though it's too late to get in this fall's league, the players are looking for people to fill rosters next year. To join contact the Parks and Recreation office at 774-2400. Visit www.sportsmedford.com/ssp/kickball for more information.

Reach reporter Chris Conrad at 776-4471; or e-mail cconrad@mailtribune.com.

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