Game Time
The York Sport and Social Club is calling adults back out to the recess yard

By Michael McMonagle
Fly photos by Steve Stoltzfus

Anyone approaching the dreaded 30-year milestone - or worse, 40 - will tell you growing older kind of sucks. All of a sudden your Saturday mornings are a little rougher than you remember them from your college years.

You're out of breath by the top of the staircase. Your beer belly has officially graduated into a full-blown beer gut. Bottom line is, your body isn't quite as limber and spritely as it once was. And it's only going to get worse.

Enter the York Sports and Social Club, an organization dedicated to injecting a little bit of fun into the sometimes daunting world of physical activity. When the YSSC debuted in 2009, spring kickball was the only league available. Now in its fourth year, the club has grown to include summer beach volleyball, fall flag football and winter dodgeball leagues. Everyone from the young professional to the young at heart now has the opportunity to relive the recess yard glory days of yore and rekindle that competitive fire all year long.

Grown adults battling it out in a heated game of kickball may seem a tad silly, but there's actually a good bit of precedent here. For years, cities like Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., have hosted numerous social sports leagues, offering everything from playground games like dodgeball and kickball to floor hockey and ultimate frisbee.

"The club's creators were originally from Baltimore, and these leagues - especially kickball - are huge down there," explains YSSC manager of operations Laura Keintz. "But when they moved to York, they realized there was nothing available like that here. So they wanted to start from scratch and form a club that anyone could join."

In its first season, the YSSC kickball league attracted four teams. By 2011 - just three years later - the kickball league's numbers jumped to 220 participants across 14 teams. According to Keintz, YSSC's participation for all sports now numbers as many as 1,500, with some participants even hailing from Lancaster and Maryland.

What differentiates the sport and social club from other recreational sports leagues, however, is the emphasis on the social.

The league requires its participants to be at least 21 years old in order to register because many of the social events associated with the league are held at bars. Each season, the YSSC enlists downtown watering holes to act as "sponsor" bars and host post-game socials for the league participants each week; the 2012 spring kickball league is sponsored by the White Rose Bar & Grill and Granfalloons Tavern.

"Whichever bar we go to each week provides us with food and drink specials," Keintz explains. "Most of them allow us to set up and play beer pong as well."

What results is a win-win for both the YSSC members and the sponsor bars; after
the games, the players have a designated party destination - complete with exclusive discounts on food and booze - while the sponsor bars enjoy a guaranteed wave of business.

In addition to the post-game socials, the YSSC also plans a number of parties throughout the year.

"We try to have one party each quarter that doesn't have anything to do with the sports leagues," says Keintz. "We have an annual Halloween party. One year we had a spring fling. We've had an ugly sweater party."

The goal is a little bigger than simply partying for the sake of partying, however, as the YSSC also plays an integral role in hyping the city of York itself. "Our goal is to get people not so familiar with downtown York who maybe live in the suburbs to come into the city to see what's there," says Keintz. "We partner with all downtown-based bars as our sponsors and we play our games downtown. We also work with Downtown, Inc. and York Young Professionals; we really want to help make everyone aware of what our city has to offer."

One final benefit is the opportunity to meet new people, forge new friendships and maybe even make your boss happy by doing some networking (the latter is especially important if you're able to convince your employer to front the bill on your team's registration). Post-game socials are a casual setting to strike up a conversation with somebody new.

"We have a lot of people that have found jobs through playing a sport," says Keintz. "It's a great way to meet people if you're new to the area or if you're looking for work. It's not a stuffy environment like many networking events can be where you go from table to table. It's relaxed and fun."

Who cares if just an hour ago that person was the guy or girl who launched a kickball at your face.

Get in the game
Ready to lace up those old cleats and play some kickball? The spring 2012 league starts May 3, and registration is open until April 19. Sign up at www.yssc.org. In the meantime, here's a little sneak peak at what's in store all year long:

Kickball
League starts: May 3
Format: Coed
Game day: Saturdays
Location: Noonan Park, 600 Parkway Boulevard
Season length: 9 weeks, plus playoffs
Roster size: Minimum of 10 players (at least four females)
Registration cost: $40/player
Additional seasons: Summer
Rule you probably didn't know: The strike zone extends to one foot on either side of home plate and one foot off the ground.

Beach Volleyball
League starts: June
Format: Coed
Location: Memorial Park, Boundary Avenue and Edgar Street
Season length: 7 weeks, plus playoffs
Roster size: Maximum of six players on the court
Registration cost: $40/player
Rule you probably didn't know: Games begin with a coin toss or rock/paper/scissors to determine starting service possession.

Flag Football
League starts: September
Format: Coed
Game day: Saturdays, plus playoffs
Location: TBD (as of press time)
Season length: 8 weeks, plus playoffs
Roster size: Minimum of 10 players
Registration cost: $40/player
Rule you probably didn't know: No fake punts.

Dodgeball
League starts: March
Format: Coed
Location: Hard Kohr Sports and Fitness, 2810 East Prospect Street
Season length: 7 weeks, plus playoffs
Roster size: 6-10 players
Registration cost: $40/player
Rule you probably didn't know: A five-second violation occurs when one team controls all six balls on their side of the court for more than five seconds.