History of Kickball

So we all know (or at least I know) that WAKA was founded in Washington, DC in 1998 and started its first season of play in Tampa in 2003 but what about the game of kickball itself? Most of us know of kickball from playing as a kid but what about kickball's origins? Historical records are hard to come by. Luckily, recent archaeological discoveries have helped solve the mystery of the origins of kickball.

A recent re-examination of the cave drawings at the Cave of the Trois-Freres in France by archaeologist Sir Douglas Graves have shed new light on the origins of kickball. These cave drawings show that a primitive form of kickball was played as early as 13,000 BC. It is believed that the game was of a spiritual nature to help prepare the men's mind and body before large hunts.

Kickball continued to be played in different forms throughout Europe and was easily the most popular past time activity of ancient people. Though many debate on the true reasons for the existence of Stone Henge, it has recently been proven that it was in fact the world's first kickball stadium. The Druids did not need a whole lot of room for the playing field because at the time the kickball itself was made of stone so bunting was quite prevalent.

In the first century AD an event changed the growth of kickball forever. Jesus of Nazareth had putting together a team of players for the spring season in the Jerusalem league. While Jesus himself did not play, he assembled the best 11 man team he could. Unfortunately he had 12 apostles and Judas Iscariot was the odd man out. Angry about being cut from the team, Judas promptly betrayed Jesus, leading to his crucifixion. Early Christians blamed the sport of kickball for the betrayal and as the church grew, they did their best to stamp out any evidence of the sport's existence. For that reason, most all historic records of kickball's existence were destroyed. Knowledge of the sport was close to being lost forever. The lack of a fun, social activity led to the dark ages.

In the 13th century, the Templar Knights were busy excavating the Temple Mount when they discovered a scroll with an explanation of the kickball rules. Kickball quickly became a favorite game of the knights. Because of the church's official position on the game at the time, the knights were labeled as heretics, eventually leading Pope Clement to issue the order to arrest all Templar Knights on Friday October 13, 1307 for their offenses of immorality. Many knights were tortured and killed for their love of kickball but some escaped and headed north to Scandinavia where they taught the game to the Vikings.

The Vikings were originally quite friendly and great ambassadors for the game. They loved introducing kickball to new people in the lands they discovered. Unfortunately, the Vikings soon got frustrated by the other teams' excessive bunting. Enraged by the difficulty in defending against the strategy, the Vikings would soon conquer any land who's kickball team dared allow a man to bunt. During this time it was not uncommon for the severed head of a bunter from a previous game to be used as the ball.

It was on a Viking expedition to North America that kickball was first introduced to the Native Americans. The Native American game took a slightly different form and much like their other favorite sport of the time, lacrosse, there was no limit to the number of players on the field at one time. As a result, the games were quite wild and fatalities were a common occurrence.

When Squanto introduced corn and kickball to the pilgrims, the new settlers were very excited to play the sport but due to their dwindling numbers from disease and starvation, they were concerned about the possibility of more fatalities from kickball. It was decided right there in Plymouth, in November 1621 that the game would again be limited to 11 players on the field at a time, greatly reducing the risk of death. It is believed that the great feast that followed the game was the inspiration to have a social gathering somewhere after the games, eventually leading to sponsor bars.

Kickball continued to find popularity among the colonists. Sam Adams, famed statesman, brewer and rabble-rouser, was the first to connect flip cup to the game of kickball, though at the time it was a much more difficult game as the cups were often made of pewter. On Mar 4, 1770 a group of Colonials, led by Crispus Attucks defeated a group of British soldiers, captained by Thomas Preston, in a tight kickball game. The next day the troops, who were still upset about the loss, fired upon the team and Crispus Attucks and some of his teammates were killed in the Boston Massacre and the seeds of the revolution were sewn.

On April 12, 1861 a game took place between the A-Ball-itionists and the ReBalls at Fort Sumter, South Carolina. There was a disputed call when one of the refs called a player out and players started arguing. Hostilities broke out and after years of fighting and more than 200,000 dead the kickball rules would forever change so that from then on, only captains could argue calls with a ref.

For most of history and up until WWII kickball was a sport that was played only by men. With so many men shipping off to war a new all female league was formed to help satisfy the public's desire to watch kickball. In 1943 the All-American Girls Kickball League was formed, only to be disbanded after 1954. The aftermath of the league disbanding left a void for women in kickball. The 1960's saw the rise of the Women's Rights Movement, leading women to fight for reproductive rights, equality in the workplace and equality in kickball. This movement resulted in the rule that a team is fielded by at least 4 men and 4 women for a game to be official.

Kickball continued to rise in popularity but the energy crisis of 1979 caused the game to lose popularity among adults. The shortage of gasoline kept many adults from wanting to drive any more than they had to, making it difficult to get enough people to a field after work for a game. As the game's popularity declined among adult players, it found a rebirth in American schoolyards in the 1980's and 90's.

In 1998 a group of friends were in a bar talking about ideas of how to organize people to bring them together for a fun time and to meet new people, and thus WAKA was born.

So now you know the complete and totally truthful history of kickball.

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Which historic figure do you wish you could have played kickball against?