Just For Kicks

Although kickball has been played by children in schoolyards and parks across the country for decades, the roots of an organized adult league can be traced here in Atlanta.

Developed in November 2005 by Atlanta transplants Jeff Kassen, Dave Hoeller, Kevin Bass and Steve Keefe, Gokickball has been dubbed by its founders as ‘America’s premier social experience’ and is quickly becoming one of the more popular outdoor activities in Midtown.

“We wanted to put together some sort of social outlet that we as well as others could enjoy around Atlanta,” said Kassen, co-founder and president of Gokickball LLC. “Ultimately, the product is social networking and kickball is the tool whereby anyone of different skill sets, whether you’re very athletic to as we say, people who have two left feet, can also get out and have fun.”

For Kassen and the others who had participated in recreational softball and soccer leagues, kickball represented the perfect blend of light-hearted fun, athletic competition and social networking opportunities.

“We had thought of a lot of different stuff that incorporated a social event, but we wanted to make sure that everyone could participate,” said Kassen.

Gokickball began its first season in the spring of 2006 with 30 teams competing at Buckhead’s Shady Valley Park.

Soon after the inaugural year, Gokickball witnessed a rapid growth in popularity and expanded to several other parks throughout the city, including Piedmont Park and Lynwood Park in the Brookhaven neighborhood. This expansion forced Kassen to resign from his day job and work with the league on a full-time basis.

“After the first two years it grew substantially and all four of us partners were still working our main jobs and just doing this on the side. But by the third year, it had grown substantially enough just in Atlanta alone that one of us would need to do it full-time,” said Kassen.

In just five seasons, Gokickball has spread stretched beyond Atlanta and is now being played in 17 U.S. cities by nearly 20,000 individuals. The participants have enjoyed the athletic competition and created lasting bonds through their involvement.

“We’ve had so many people that have contacted us that have said ‘Hey, this is how I met my husband or my wife’ or ‘We’re getting married and we’re going to have a wedding cake shaped like a kickball’ or ‘We’ve had children now and it’s all due to Gokickball.’ So you know, that’s pretty cool to hear,” said Kassen.

As the company continues to grow, Kassen hopes to host leagues in every major city across the country.

“It was more wishful thinking that we could get to the size that we are now,” said Kassen. “I never even thought the company would get to the point where we’d be going full-time, let alone that we would actually have an office in Buckhead, a staff of people in Atlanta and other cities. I’m pleased with the success, but at the same time we have a lot of goals that we want to achieve in the future and we look forward to growing as well.”

The next slate of games takes place on Saturday, April 2 at Piedmont Park with a host of teams lining up for competition at various times throughout the day. Among those in action are Will kick 4 beer vs. Bunt with a C, The Runs vs. Jebediah PussyFace, Your Mom vs. Shoeless Dave and Grade School Bullies, REDEMPTION vs. Bad News Beers, Triple BEX vs. Bain Ballers, Where the Wild Balls Are vs. Crouching Tiger, Hidden DeMeester, The Runarounds vs. Norfolk n Way, Field 4 X3 Sports vs. TAPASI SQUAD, The Empire Kicks Back vs. Don’t Stop Ballievin, The Hilltoppers vs. Don’t Forget the Balls and We Kick Balls vs. Redballs and Vodka.

For more information, visit gokickball.com/atlanta.