Founders Cup

Next weekend is a very exciting weekend for WAKA Kickball as teams from all over the country converge on Las Vegas to participate in the http://www.kickball.com/tournament/founderscup and the Kickball Games. You may be asking yourselves, what does that mean? What is the difference?

The Founders Cup is basically the Kickball World Championships. In order to qualify each team had to have played in a WAKA division in the past year and won their playoff tournament (or runner up in the playoffs in some cases). This can be an intense tournament with some of the best kickball players in the world and they all show up with their game faces on. Last year one of the favorites, the Meatballs from Fort Lauderdale, showed up with matching team t-shirts to be used during warm-ups that said "we piss excellence all over Vegas". By the time the tournament is over, the two teams in the finals will have played at least 8 games. Last years finals saw The Others from DC win over the Best Coast Ballers from San Francisco. You can view some of the tournament photos by going to http://www.flickr.com/photos/wakakickball/. The Seminoles received an invitation to play in this year's Founders Cup but declined because Florida State is playing that day and they all want to make sure they are sitting in front of a tv at game time. At least that is what I was told.

The Kickball Games is something new this year. This is intended to be a less competitive and more social experience. There is no elimination but every team will play at least 4 games in a round robin format. Rather than crowning a champion, there will be 5 prizes for superlatives given out for things like best costumes and best team skit. The interesting thing about this tournament is that you don't have to have won your division, nor do you even have to have played together as a team during a season. Each player on the team has to have been registered in a WAKA division in the past year but you can draw people in from other teams, other divisions or even other states.

We are all pretty excited that Tampa will be represented in these inaugural Kickball Games. The Alcoballics from the Bayshore Division are all pretty pumped up about their chance to strut there stuff in Sin City. Actually, Breaker is being represented too as Kyle from Multiple Scorgasms is also on the Alcoballics. We wish them the best of luck and remind them that what happens in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas, especially VD.



I will actually be there as well as I am in charge of the referees on the day of the tournament. If you are lucky and nice to me, I might send you a postcard.