Tuesday, December 22, 2015

WAKA Hampton Roads 2015 Year in Review

As I wrote last year, 2014 was going to be a tough year to top. But man, looking back on 2015, I think we did. Let's take a few moments to relive the highlights of a wonderful year of WAKA games, parties, and friendships.

January 24th - VA Raptor- Winter Week 1
WAKA VA Raptor kicked off our 4th winter season with a cold one. Truffle Shuffle's Chris Peaden collected some of the best quotes of the weekend.


Posted by Brad Kirby on Sunday, February 1, 2015

February 3rd - Kirby takes over the Instagram
If you aren't following wakavahamptonroads on Instagram, you're missing out. Everyday, Brad Kirby posts a different WAKA photo from the past and today. #332daysofkickball



 March 14th - Sitch overcomes Beast Mode, elements to win another Raptor Cup
An overcast day turned into a steady drizzle and chilly, muddy conditions late in the afternoon. Despite the elements, or perhaps because of, Beast Mode and The Situation had one of the epic battles in WAKA VA Raptor history. In the end, Sitch pulled it out and won their third consecutive winter championship.

April 8th - VA Peninsula - Spring Week 1
Another great season of WAKA VA Peninsula kicked off with a bunch of home runs on opening night.



 April 8th - "What's Up, WAKA?"
Victoria Davis debuted a new ongoing interview feature for the spring season. Basically, it involved asking random players what their favorite dirty joke was.


 April 18th - WAKA Varsity Kickball Classic
Nine kickball teams comprised of local area high school alumnus, alumnae, and faculty competed in a charity kickball tournament at Gosnolds with all the bragging rights on the line. In the end, the Crabber kickball team earned the championship, but more importantly, our Relay for Life team raised over $1,100 to fight cancer.

Also this:



April 20th - FINALLY, WAKA returns to Virginia Beach!
WAKA VA Atlantic was reborn on Monday nights down on the southside!


A photo posted by WAKA VA Hampton Roads (@wakavahamptonroads) on


May 2nd - Relay For Life
The culmination of our fundraising campaign was the Relay for Life event at Todd Stadium in Newport News. For 2014-15, we raised $7,900 for the American Cancer Society. We're already well on our way to crushing that number for '15-'16!



May 4th - Star Wars Night in VA Beach
"May the Fourth Be With You."






May 16th - WAKA VA Atlantic "Seniors" Midseason Party


 May 20th - Welcome to Tapps, VA Peninsula!
Earlier in the week, our long time sponsor, Luckie's, unexpectedly closed their doors for good. But when one door closes, another one opens, and Tapps was more than happy to give us a new home!



 May 23rd - The WAKA MidAtlantic Regional
This past Memorial Day weekend, we held the WAKA MidAtlantic Regional. 13 teams battled it out in Carrolton and then partied at Tapps that night. In the end, Panik Attack earned the trophy (and the big check that came with it) with a great win over Chain Reaction (PA/DC)! 


 May 27th  - Chaos Rules
The Chaotic KILFs opened the spring VA Peninsula season with a 9 game winning streak. Their undefeated run was broken by JFK in a close 2-1 match.

June 1st - The 100th episode of "3 Up 3 Down"
Jorts Johnson, Matt Wellbrock, and Brent Wentworth recorded the 100th episode the critically acclaimed *cough* kickball podcast.


 June 10th - Foul Balls 150th All-Time Game
The most tenured franchise in WAKA VA Peninsula history celebrated their 150th regular season game! Captain Andreas Beyersdorf commemorated the milestone, with a humorous recap of the team's history.


 June 13th - Pop Pop wins again!
The most successful franchise in Friday nights won their third WAKA VA Freedom title in the spring finale. That evening, we threw down at Manhattan's for a great end of season par-tay.


 June 20th - Cardiac Arrest wins VA Peninsula! 
The Smokin' Bunts cinderella run fell just short, as Cardiac Arrest won the team's first championship in the spring.


June 24th - Stuff Kickballers Say
In this blog post, we highlighted some of the goofy responses from the VA Patriot draft surveys.

June 25th - Opening night of WAKA Hampton Roads Sand Volleyball
WAKA organized the first non-kickball sports league in our history this summer. Every Thursday night this summer, players enjoyed an awesome atmosphere and fun volleyball games at Paradise Ocean Club in Hampton.

June 28th - The VA Patriot Draft
The annual summer tradition kicked off with the VA Patriot player selection draft live from Tapps. Randy Devlin was the #1 overall pick. 160 players in total had their names called during the draft.


 June 30th - All About That Base
The first champion of the new VA Atlantic League was crowned. All About That Base!

July 9th - VA Patriot Opening Night



August 5th - See ya!
Hampton Roads said good bye to a legend, as Jorts Johnson transferred to the WAKA leagues in Connecticut. 


August 8th - The first WAKA Hampton Roads Sand Volleyball championship
Safe Sets took home the title at the Paradise Ocean Club.


August 12th - That's My Man: VA Patriot Champs
Alex Jackson and Noelle Walsh made some great choices and showed great leadership during the summer. Their squad, That's My Man, won the Bay Haven Bowl. Meanwhile, Truffle Butter Jelly Time won the Toilet Bowl.

August 15th - Summer EOS Party at Waters Edge
We closed out the summer volleyball and kickball seasons in an appropriate fashion, a pool party.


August 16th - WAKA Day at Busch Gardens
There were kickball.com shirts all over the park on this Sunday. It was a great, fun filled day!


August 21st - VA Freedom Opening Night!


August 25th - Bar Buzz Brad 
The VA Peninsula Bar Buzz was taken over by everyone's favorite libertarian party animal, Brad Gault.

August 29th - DEOC (It's COED in reverse) 
The ladies took the lead in this unique twist on our favorite coed sport. The WAKA DEOC Tournament mandated 7 women in the field and restricted the number of male infielders. The Heart Throbs took home the gold medals at the end of the day and the Relay for Life team raised $1,250.

September 1st - Top 5 Ways to Captain a WAKA Champion
AJ shared some very helpful tips in this blog entry.

September 9th - VA Peninsula Fall Kick off
After week 1 was rained out, we finally got the fall underway. It was an eventful night. Mark Flores and Lisa Rock pitched a no hitter for DCOMB, PBJT returned to Wednesday nights, Cardiac Arrest became the first team to defeat The Situation in the regular season, and we saw the debut of this new tag team;


WAKA may never be the same.

September 13th - Kickball 101
Brent Wentworth (3rd person alert!) posted the first in a series of kickball tips. This one covered how to rip line drives and other posts covered bunting techniques, and chest passing drills.



 September 23rd - Trading Cards
As part of our Fall fundraising campaign, we designed and produced 230 individual player trading cards and sold them in packs and full sets. In addition to being fun to collect kickball trading cards, we raised over $300 for the American Cancer Society.

 September 23rd - Where there is Smoke, there is Fire. 
In one of the bigger upsets in VA Peninsula history, The Fireballs defeated Smokin Bunts in a wild 6-5 walk off kick by John Vrooman. Less than 2 months later, they'd prove it was not a fluke when they eliminated the Bunts from the playoffs. Looking forward to seeing the next time these two teams tangle.

 September 25th - Look Good, Play Good
Hot Dogs & Taco's Erica Lissette wrote a great weekly feature on the blog that focused on the kickball world of fashion. One of my favorites was her hoodie edition in September.

September 21st & 26th - Volunteer Events
Jill Simms & Tribal Yoga raised $600 for ACS with a great yoga fundraiser. Erin Small, Chris LeBlanc, George Kiriazidis, Kat Greene, and Brent Wentworth raised another couple hundred for Relay serving beers at a War Memorial Stadium concert. Several kickballers including Brian Groh, Dwight Polka, Mike Kern, Sheri Lewis, Danielle Smith, Mike Mallozzi, and Stephanie Romett, volunteered their time and manpower to Habitat for Humanity.

 October 10th - The Situation makes the Finals of the Founders Cup World Championship 
The Situation represented Hampton Roads well with another deep run at the World Championship. They fell just short, unfortunately. Next year. Next year will be the year they bring the trophy back.


 October 16th - Foggy Friday Night

October 17th - WAKA Kicks Cancer
The 3rd Annual WKC Tournament was held in Hampton. Several players and volunteers came together for a great day of kickball. Together we raised nearly $3,000 for the American Cancer Society. On the field, LLS took home the trophy with a dominant performance all day. The event was covered by 13 News and LaSalle Blanks' "Making Your Mark" segment.

October 21st - Efird Making Highlight Plays
Everyone knows Gene Efird can get you out with his strong arm, but did you know he can make outs with his feet as well?


 October 24th - VA Atlantic End of Season Party
The VA Beach kickballers know how to party. They threw down at Tubby's to celebrate the 2nd season of Monday night kickball. Liza Maula displayed her outstanding baking skills with a beautiful (and tasty) WAKA cake.


 October 26th - Jiminy Kick It wins VA Atlantic Fall
JKI held the Fall trophy high in Virginia Beach after winning the Monday night tournament.

This photo was too nice to be the banner photo in Facebook.

October 31st - New Champs in VA Freedom
The reign of Pop Pop ended at the hands of Cardiac Arrest in a very exciting tournament on Halloween. The finals went to extra innings before Allen Walker broke the tie with a clutch sacrifice.

Pitches Love Bunkbeds shows their Halloween Spirit at Tapps for the EoS party.

November 14th - VA Peninsula End of Season
The Situation captured their 3rd Wentworth Trophy® by defeating WAKA'm To The Jungle, 2-0... Later that evening, kickballers were dressed to the nines at Tapps for the WAKA Prom theme.


 November 21st - Jungle Gym Burpee Fest
WAKA Kickball & Social Sports is proud to sponsor a table at Burpee Fest 2015. Geoff Morehart and his Jungle Gym crew raised several thousand dollars for some great charities.

December 1st - Top 13 Amazing Diving Catches
All Hampton Roads edition.

December 4th - Josh Carr learned how to make gifs. 


December 9th
For the first time ever, WAKA has a full time employee solely responsible for the Hampton Roads Market. Brent Wentworth (me!) was hired to be the Market Sales Manager in December.


December 17th - 4th Annual WAKA Holiday Sweater Party
The 4th annual Holiday Sweater Party was held at Schooners in Newport News. A great turnout and a wonderful event, highlighted by sweater contest co-winners, Will McKendree and Curtis Blauch!



Thank you all for a magnificent 2015. Here's to an even better 2016! Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!
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