The ol' ball game

Kickball: It's not just for fourth-graders anymore.

A variation of baseball that's played with a big rubber ball that players punt rather than hit with a bat, kickball's popularity has skyrocketed lately among postcollegians. All of the social athletics companies in town organize leagues. And Chicago is home to two separate divisions in the World Adult Kickball Association (an honest-to-goodness governing body, based in Washington, D.C.).

"It's definitely a comeback sport," says Deborah LaBonar, a 35-year-old consultant who plays for a team in WAKA's Chicago-based Deep Dish division. "Five years ago, people would have laughed at the idea that adults were playing."

But playing they are. WAKA, which was started by four guys in D.C., has grown from 150 participants in 1998 to an estimated 40,000 in 2005, with leagues in 32 states and three foreign countries (including one composed of Marines stationed in Fallujah, Iraq).

To get a taste of the game, players can sign up for this weekend's Kickin' It for Kids Kickball Klassic, a benefit for Children's Memorial Hospital taking place in Ravenswood's Winnemac Park.

Tournament participants will learn adult kickball has the same structure and rules as the schoolyard version: Three strikes (or four foul kicks) are an out. Four balls constitute a walk. And a base runner struck with the ball (below the neck—this ain't Ultimate Fighting) is considered out.

But that doesn't mean the game will be exactly as you remember it.

"The rules are the same, but as adults, we've learned how to make it tougher," LaBonar says. "There's a lot of spinning in the pitching. Pitchers throw a lot of curve balls. When you're 12, you don't know how to do that."

Despite these new wrinkles, there's a mellow camaraderie that's found in sports like ultimate Frisbee and broomball. Players want to win, but not at all costs.

"People who are really serious about it aren't well received," LaBonar says. "Kickball players want to have a good time. They're not quite as hard-core as people who play other sports."

The Kickin' It for Kids tournament began in 2002 as a way for Allie Harned, a 31-year-old school social worker, to raise money for the Kids First charity marathon training team. Harned was looking for a fun way to get her friends to help her come up with the $500 in required pledges.

"I thought I was coming up with a unique idea," Harned says. "But I didn't know how to plan a kickball tournament. So I Googled kickball, and WAKA came up."

The organization provided her with official rules and field dimensions, plus ideas on creating a tournament structure. "They were very helpful," she says. "But I remember being very entertained by the idea of having a conference call about kickball."

She made her $500 and then some that first year, so in 2003, even though she wasn't training for the marathon, she held the tournament again and raised $2,000 (also for Children's Memorial). In 2004, Harned was working with Habitat for Humanity in Guatemala, so LaBonar took over, pulling in close to $5,000. This year's tournament is being organized by Patrick Rooney, a 27-year-old IT consultant who hopes to raise $15,000.

Rooney says kickball is a perfect way to raise money for the Lincoln Park children's hospital: "We're playing a children's game as adults, so it's very fitting."

Registering a team for the tournament is a good way to give the sport a try without having to sign up for an eight-week season. And if you find that you can't live without more kickball, you're in luck. There are usually teams playing in spring, summer and fall throughout the city.

"Nobody's going to be a pro kickball player," Rooney promises. "Anybody can play."

Kickin' It for Kids busts out the big red balls Saturday 10 at Winnemac Park.