AUBURN - Many may think of kickball as the game from grade school gym class, but increasingly it is growing in popularity and rapidly becoming a major recreational sport across the nation.

Auburn's Jay Loperfido noticed this trend and was inspired to help the game get a foothold in Auburn.

“Kickball is getting pretty big lately,” Loperfido said. “There are things like the World Kickball Association and it is going well in Canada. I saw all of this and I just thought that it would be something fun to bring to Auburn to give people something a little different to do.”

The led to the creation of the Auburn Co-ed Kickball League.

Generally, Loperfido said kickball leagues in other areas are geared more towards the fall, but he was eager to get the league started and see what kind of interest there would be locally to have a kickball league.

“In the summer there are a lot of other things going on - softball and other sports,” Loperfido said. “So usually this is a fall league sport. But we really wanted to get this started so we moved it to the summer.”

And so far the response has been overwhelmingly good.

Loperfido said there are six teams with between 13 and 22 players on each team that meet every Sunday at Herman Elementary School to play.

“It is a really good turn out,” Loperfido said. “We really didn't know what to expect, but I think we are off to a really good start considering this is our first season.”

This is due at least in part to the great accessibility of the game.

“Mostly we have players in their 20s and 30s,” Loperfido said. “But we have players in their 40s and 50s. Kickball is something everyone can play. You don't have to be the greatest athlete, as long as you can kick a ball you can play. We have moms and dads playing and we get a lot of families that come out just to watch and show their support for the players they know on the teams.”

Almost as soon as Loperfido put the word out that he was starting up a league he was getting calls.

“It really grew by word of mouth,” Loperfido said. “As soon as people heard about this we had people that wanted to play and wanted to get a team together. It has been great.”

The league has also received some strong support form the city, allowing them to use the fields at Herman Ave. and from a variety of sponsors.

“We are pretty fortunate,” Loperfido said. “We get to use these great fields and we have a lot of support from all of our sponsors that helped sponsor teams, like the Blarney Stone, Eagle Nationwide and the Printery have all been really generous with helping us out with all of this.”

While the game is still played much like many will remember from recess, there are a few changes and formalities with an umpire watching every pitch and kick and what is going on the field.

But none the less, Loperfido said things are competitive, but still all in fun.

“Everybody has a good time,” Loperfido said. “That is really what it is all about. We have umps calling the strikes and everything and we like to be competitive, but it is all about having fun.”

At the end of the season, Loperfido said there are plans to have a championship game followed by an awards banquet.

“We just want to do something really nice,” Loperfido said. “We want to do something different than a lot of other leagues might offer.”

And with the strong response garnered by the first summer efforts, Loperfido already has plans for the fall.

“We will definitely be having a fall league,” Loperfido said. “We'd love to have a few more teams, if we could get 10 or 12 teams we'd be ecstatic. There are a lot of people looking forward to it and we are all excited to get the fall league going and to keep this going and keep building this up to a really fun league.”

For more information on the fall league, contact Jay Loperfido at 515-0264