It’s just a fact of life that not all kids are good at sports. And yet, sports are valuable in their ability to teach things like teamwork, not to mention the physical workout they provide. For the kids that weren’t great at most sports, there was at least one that didn’t require quite as much finesse or training as, say, basketball.  Kickball was just a heck of a lot of fun to play and an activity that just about any kid could understand and do well at.

Often played in a gymnasium when the weather isn’t cooperative, and on a softball field when the sun is shining, kickball basically mimics baseball. Sure, the rules are simplified a bit and the ball is gigantic in relation to those used in other sports, but the basics are the same. You have your three bases and the coveted home plate. You have a thrower or “pitcher” and you have a kicker or “batter”. The pitcher bowls the ball towards the plate and the kicker, well, kicks it with all of his or her might. Once the ball has left the kicker’s foot, the object is relatively simple; run as far along the base path as you can without being called out. Being called out might be the result of being hit by the ball, being tagged by a fielder, or by a force play at the base. What made things interesting is that, due to the size of the ball, it was pretty easy to catch but throwing it accurately could be quite the challenge, especially with the smaller arms of a child. An off-balance throw could have disastrous results, much to the delight of the offense.

Kickball got its start in 1943 and was reported to have been played by American soldiers stationed in Africa during WWII. The game even has its own adult league, called the World Adult Kickball Association where grownups can relive the glory days of their youth. Of course, many are likely to find that kickball was just a tad more strenuous than they may have remembered. Just like climbing trees and rolling down hills, there are some activities that a child does effortlessly that would send the average adult to the hospital with a groin pull.

But for kids, it was a great game: simple, easy and something that anyone could play. And it sure burned off those carbohydrates from the morning’s cereal bowl.