Game Time
The brand-new Lancaster Sport and Social Club is calling adults back out to the recess yard

By Michael McMonagle
Fly photo 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 brand-new Lancaster Sport and Social Club, an organization dedicated to injecting a little bit of fun into the sometimes daunting world of physical activity. This month, the LSSC makes its debut, offering adults-only kickball, softball, football and cornhole leagues. Everyone from the young professional to the young at heart now has the opportunity to relive the youthful glory days on the recess yard and rekindle that competitive fire. The game, as they say, is on.

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.

Combine Lancaster's proximity to these major metropolises with its ever-evolving business and arts communities - not to mention the handful of college campuses around the county - and what you have is a region that's primed and ready to join in on the playful trend.

"We attract college students, young professionals, even 30-somethings who are looking for an outlet from their work week," explains LSSC league manager Tim Hollenback.

Although originally a Philadelphia native, the 25-year-old Hollenback has spent the last seven years living in Lancaster, studying at Millersville University, where he played four years of men's soccer as an undergrad and earned a master's degree in sports management last spring. Upon completion of his masters study, Hollenback found work as the league manager for the Philadelphia Sport and Social Club, handling as many as 1,600 teams across 11 sports leagues. Very quickly, however, he made it his mission to bring the party to Lancaster County.

"I played in the Lancaster rec leagues and in a Sunday softball league while I lived here," he says, "but I think my demographic wants more than your basic rec leagues where you play your game, go home and then come back next week."

What differentiates the sport and social club from other recreational sports leagues 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. In fact, the LSSC has already teamed up with Marion Court Room, the BrickYard Sports Bar and Yorgos
Restaurant & Lounge in Lancaster City to act as "sponsor" bars and host post-game socials for the league participants each week.

"We have a sponsor bar for every one of our leagues, and we drive all of our participants to that bar," Hollenback explains. "What we do is encourage our bar sponsors to provide some sort of food or drink specials to participants as an incentive for our players to go there."

What results is a win-win for both the LSSC 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 LSSC - in conjunction with its parent Philadelphia Sport and Social Club - plans to offer its Lancaster participants a mixed bag of social events outside county lines. According to Hollenback, typical events will range from deals on bus trips and tickets to Philadelphia Phillies games, beer festivals and even tournaments in other markets (the PSSC also has chapters in South Jersey and West Chester).

"In Philly, we try to find fun things to do for our participants so that we're more than just a sports club," says Hollenback. "We're social, too. We'll do bar crawls and tailgate together at Phillies games. We have a War at the Shore football tournament every summer in Stone Harbor, NJ. All these events are open to all of our participants."

One final benefit is the opportunity to meet new people, forge new friendships and maybe even make your employer happy by doing some networking (the latter is especially important if you're able to convince your boss to front the bill on your team's registration). Post-game socials are a casual setting to strike up a conversation with somebody new, even if just an hour ago that person was the guy or girl who launched a playground ball at your face.

Get in on the game
In its inaugural year, the LSSC is offering Lancastrians the chance to compete in four leagues: kickball, softball, football and cornhole. According to Hollenback, the club's menu will grow in future years to include sports such as volleyball, dodgeball, basketball, ultimate frisbee and more. Here's what's on tap this spring:

Softball
League starts: April 15
Format: Men's, coed
Game day: Sundays
Location: Lancaster
County Central Park
Season length: 10 weeks, plus playoffs
Roster size: 15 players maximum
Registration cost: $495/team, or $45/individual
Additional seasons: Summer, fall
Rule you probably didn't know: A legal pitch must have a six- to 10-foot arc.

Kickball
League starts: April 17
Format: Coed
Game day: Tuesdays and Thursdays
Location: Lancaster County Central Park
Season length: 7 weeks, plus playoffs
Roster size: 15 players maximum
Registration cost: $425/team, or $45/individual
Additional seasons: Summer, fall
Rule you probably didn't know: No bunting.

Cornhole
League starts: May 3
Format: Any combination of male, female or coed
Game day: Thursdays
Location: Marion Court Room
Season length: 6 weeks, plus playoffs
Roster size: 2-4 players
Registration cost: $75/team, or $30/individual
Additional seasons: Summer, fall, winter
Rule you probably didn't know: Bags that hit the ground first and roll onto the board do not count.

Football
League starts: April 15
Format: Men's flag football, coed touch football
Game day: Sundays
Location: Lancaster County Central Park
Season length: 7 weeks, plus playoffs
Roster size: 15 players maximum
Registration cost: $450/team, or $55/individual
Additional seasons: Summer, fall, winter
Rule you probably didn't know: In coed touch football, the defense must yell "blitz" before rushing the quarterback.

For more information on the Lancaster Sport and Social Club or to sign up for a league as a team or an individual, visit the LSSC website at www.playlancastersports.com.