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A childhood game is alive and kicking

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By MICHELE SAGER

msager@tampatrib.com

Published: June 24, 2009

NORTHDALE - With a swift kick, the giant rubber ball soared through the air, bouncing off the fingertips of the opposing team, and Erika Puhalski saw her opportunity.

With all the energy the Odessa mother could muster, she rounded the bases. But as she passed third, she tumbled to the ground, sending her scrambling through the grass to make a crawl for home.

Chaos ensued on the field as both teams struggled to make it to home. Puhalski crossed home plate and scored her first run of the season. Her arm was scraped, her leg sore but her smile was never wider.

"That's kickball," she said. "It makes you feel like a kid again."

Puhalski is one of the dozens of adults participating in Northdale's newest recreational outlet, kickball. About a dozen teams in the Kickball Society of Tampa Bay meet once a week to relive a bit of their childhood on the Northdale Soccer Fields.

Rosemary Curtiss started the league with her husband to give adults another outlet.

"It's an inexpensive way to blow off some steam while socializing and having a great time," she said.

Participants must be at least 21, and Curtiss said the league has players in their 60s. Curtiss insists people don't need a lot of athletic coordination to play.

"They just need to be willing to have some fun and maybe get a bit dirty," she said.

And players should expect some of the same rough and tumble action they saw on the elementary playground years ago.

"I hadn't done this since I was a kid," Puhalski said. "But you pick it up right away and we always have a blast."

The summer league runs through today, and Curtiss said a second season will begin in the fall. For information, visit www.kick ballsociety.com.

Reporter Michele Sager can be reached at (727) 451-2344.

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