Kickball - Wikipedia

1 of 3

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kickball

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kickball is a playground game and league game, similar to baseball, invented in the United States. As in
baseball, one team tries to score by having its players return a ball from home base to the field and then
circle the bases; while the other team tries to stop them by tagging them "out" with the ball before they can
return to the home base. Instead of hitting a small, hard ball with a bat, players kick an inflated rubber ball; this
makes it more accessible to young children. As in baseball, teams alternate half-innings. The team with the most
runs after a predefined number of innings wins.
Kickball is a popular playground game and is typically played among young, school-age children. The lack of
both specialized equipment and highly skill-based positions (like pitcher) makes the game an accessible
introduction to other sports. It is just as popular among adults, who are more commonly known to play similar
games like softball and baseball.
"The game seems to afford equal enjoyment to the children and it gives a better understanding of the national
game (Baseball), and at the same time affords them an exercise that is not too violent and is full of fun."[1]

Kickball, originally called "Kick Baseball", was invented as early as 1917 by Nicholas C Seuss, Supervisor of
Cincinnati Park Playgrounds in Cincinnati, Ohio.[2] Seuss submitted his first documented overview of the game
which included 12 rules and a field diagram in The Playground Book, published in 1917. Kickball is referred to
as "Kick Base Ball" and "Kick Baseball" in this book.[3]
Around 19201921 "Kick Ball" was used by physical education teachers in public schools to teach young
boys and girls the basics of baseball. Around this time, the ball that was used was a soccer ball or volleyball.
It was played by ten to thirty players and the field included a "Neutral Zone": an area not to be entered until the
ball has actually been kicked. There was no pitcher as the ball would be kicked from the home area, which was
a 3 ft circle. The ball must pass beyond the 5 foot line. Base-runners could only advance one base on infield
balls. Teams would switch sides only after all team members have kicked.[4]
During this time, it was played on the same field as baseball except that there was only one base
corresponding to a baseball diamond's 2nd base. Multiple players could be on base at a time, but all
needed to get home before the last kicker kicked and the kicking order had retired.[5]
There were also two short stop player positions: one between 1st and 2nd and the other between 2nd and 3rd.
Home plate was marked by a 3 ft by 4 ft rectangle on the ground.[6]
Published in April 1922, Daniel Chase; Supervisor of Physical Education for the New York State Department of
Education, describes the earliest known account of adults playing kickball. This game took place at a
conference of rural teachers in Mooers Forks, Clinton County, NY where Daniel was teaching games that the
teachers could in turn teach to their pupils. They did not have a ball, so they made one out of an old stocking
and some rags. The ball was about 7 to 8 inches long and tied off with an old shoelace. The construction of this
makeshift ball was demonstrated to the rural teachers by Mr. Braddock Wells. The teachers were assigned
numbers to create teams; odd numbers on one team and even numbers on the other. The team captains chose
college names to represent each team name. The odds chose Yale & the evens chose Princeton. The game of
"Kick Baseball" was the last game they played at the conference to decide the championship for the day. 10

11/9/2016 2:01 PM