Kick ball in the dirty

I had never heard of a kickball association until I moved here. Of course, the game was a hoot when I was in grade school, but when I found out that there was a league for grownups I couldn’t believe it. Further investigation revealed four different leagues of competition within the association. First, there is a laid back league which is just about having fun and playing kickball. Then there is the novice league, which is one step up from laid back. Next in line are the intermediate league and finally, the competitive league. Fellow employee, Misty Brown, AKA “The Gadget Girl” is a kick ball player. She currently plays in the novice league. We were talking about the game recently and she asked if I was interested in playing. I froze. Me - play kick ball? My mind traveled back to 1992, when I was 10-years old playing in grade school.

I could hear the shouts from my friends, feel the perspiration gather on my forehead as I approached the kicking mound. I remembered the whoosh of the ball as it traveled my way and the thump of my foot making contact. The ball rolled a whole five feet and I sprinted like the dickens. Within seconds I was whacked with the ball – out.

Misty asked again, “So, do you want to play?” Since it had only been 17 years since I last played, I hesitated and finally said, “Yes.”

After giving my verbal confirmation, it was too late to back out. I was going to join the world famous Little Rock Kick Ball Association. The following day Misty gave me a waiver to fill out, which certified that I was healthy enough to play and was capable of taking myself to the ER if I broke my leg. Additionally, Misty than told me I needed to come up with a fun name for my jersey. She said I could also use my last name, but I wanted my fans to be cheering something crazy and silly when I came into home plate. I told Misty I had to think about it and would get back to her.

Over the weekend I came up with ‘Bizzie B.’ For most of my life, I’ve gone by Becky, so that is where the ‘B’ part comes from. I also don’t like to sit still for too long and like to keep busy. Do you see where I am going with this? Well, the more I thought about this name, the more I liked it. Then I watched that commercial with the famous quote from Muhammad Ali, “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” That is exactly what I am going to do on the kick ball field – ‘Bizzie B’ is here to send the ball soaring into the air and sting the home plate!

Unfortunately, my confidence waned when I went to practice. Kicking a big, red bouncy ball was not quite as easy as I recalled. Most of the people had played before and were strategizing about how and where to kick it. I was just happy to make contact with the ball.