SURE, YOU KNOW HOW TO PLAY KICKBALL...BUT DO YOU REALLY KNOW KICKBALL?

Right about now, adult kickballers all over the country are stretching out their hammies in anticipation of the fast-approaching spring season. Since the big Y2K disappointment, social kickball playing (for people over the age of 6) has taken the nation by storm. With binge drinking leagues popping up in nearly every city across the U.S., you'd be hard-pressed to find someone (yet again, over the age of 6) who doesn't know the in's & out's of kickball. You kick a rubber ball and you run your ass off. Pretty simple right? Yes, but did you also know some of these interesting facts about the wonderful world of kickball???

• Kickball is a U.S. born sport, invented in 1917 by Nicholas Seuss, the supervisor of Cincinnati Park Playgrounds in Cincinnati, OH. And you thought "Cleveland Rocks"...it was Cincinnati the whole time.
• Kickball was originally called "Kick Baseball" and "Soccer Baseball". What genius names did you expect from an era that wrapped up school in the 6th grade?
• In the early 20's, kickball was used by P.E. teachers in school to teach children the basics of baseball. Which led to zero confusion when t-ball started. "A bat? Naw...I'll just use my foot."
• In early kickball days, multiple players could be on the same base at the same time, there were no outs, no pitcher, no real "positions", and they used either a soccer or volleyball. This actually sounds like how most NACKA games are played when the beer truck offers 2 for 1 specials.
• The earliest account of adults playing kickball was in 1922 at a teachers conference in Clinton County, NY. Yes Clinton County NY does exist. We looked it up on google maps too!
• By 1930, kickball adopted the same rules as baseball. 3 strikes, 3 outs, 4 balls, and pitching and fielding positions were all added. So now we really have no idea what game is being played at Sahlen Stadium on Thursday nights??
• During WWII, the Army played kickball during their down time. Imagine if they played it during fighting time. That really would have thrown the Germans for a loop.
• In the Army during WWII, all kicks had to be home runs by beating the ball back to home. We're not sure how many NACKA players would've made it past bootcamp.
• In South Korea, kickball is known as balyagu and is a staple in gym class. We just assumed that doing math equations was a gym class staple...our bad. (We kid, we kid!)
• Kickball is known as kickbase in Japan. If they're kicking the bases instead of a ball...someone should probably cut off their saki supply.
• In Latin America, kickball is almost exclusively played by women. FYI: NACKA is an equal opportunity kicking & drinking league.
• Thriving kickball leagues for women exist in Venezula and Columbia. Can anyone smell a challenge here??
• The World Adult Kickball Association (WAKA) was founded in 1998 by 4 guys drinking in a bar looking for ways to meet women and get laid. Yeah, that pretty much sums up kickball in a nutshell.

Kickball is coming soon ballers!! Start stretching now!
Source: https://www.nackakickball.com/article.cfm?Page=Articles&ArticleNumber=110