Kickin' it Home 2013

This past wknd I joined a kickball team in a tournament to raise money for Youth Services of Brattleboro.   Played at the new West River Park, there were 16 teams total, broken into two brackets. The 1st set of teams to begin at 8:30am, and the second set to start around 1pm.  The winners of the 1st and 2nd brackets were scheduled to play for the Championship around 6pm. By the luck of the draw, or not so lucky, my team The Cult (Cultural Intrigue) was scheduled to play first... aka super cold and super early on a Saturday morning.  

Apparently the event was much more structured than last year, but there were still some inconsistencies which may/may not be addressed in future tourneys. The umps on one field would call 3 fouls an out, while the other field only two.  Sometimes we could have 10 players and sometimes only 9. We weren't required to have an official lineup or set positions. We just kicked in order of who ever felt like kicking, and I played Left Field, Right Field, 3rd base and toward the end designated myself Catcher so I could nurse a pulled hip flexor which occurred early in game 4.   

The whole thing was ridiculously comical and the main field was definitely the place to be. There was a food vendor, music bumping, and hilarious play by play commentary by Fish Man, one of our local Dj's He basically took the role of Bob Uecker in the movie Major League, making light of all our quirks and less than stellar moves on the field.  There were teams of all shapes, sizes, ages and abilities.. The Cult being one of the more eclectic teams. I saw shoes go flying and people running bases 1/2 barefoot, and we had quite a few time-outs due to dog interruption (mostly one dog in particular) who clearly wanted to join in the fun, taking their own turns at rounding the bases.   

The Cult clenched 3rd place in our bracket getting knocked out in game 5 by Vintage Steel.  Not to shabby considering it was our fist time all playing together.  Vintage Steele then went on to play Lawton Floor Design in the finals. Lawton's had an all star lineup, all of whom were fantastic athletes through HS and college, and continue to play competitive sports now their later years.. no offense of course. Not only did they win the whole thing but I'm fairly certain they went undefeated.  I'm friends w/most of their players and congratulate them with the utmost sincerely, but I'm extremely relieved that we never had to play against them... don't be fooled by their team photo, they're way more intimidating than they appear :))

I never would have thought that a friendly kickball tournament would turn into such a grueling and exhausting task... resulting in many a pulled mussel, minor scrapes and bruises, even a questionable broken toe (and that was just my team alone, ha).  I passed out on the couch 8pm ish, and awoke around 1am with all the lights on, TV still on, staring at a lovely glass of wine w/only one sip taken out of it.  I guess this older 30-something couldn't handle the competitive twist on an innocent childhood game quite like she thought she could.  I praise the Lord that I had no commitments or places I needed to be today.  I'm still not moving very quickly.  In fact, all day I've been doing my darndest to not have to move at all...creak, groan, creak, groan.

(Lawton Flooring pics by Meghan McLaughlin and Gina Ballantine Pattison)