ANNUAL MANUAL ’11: Rochester Sports

 [
RECREATION ] BY JESSE HANUS

Rochester is
unquestionably a sports town. The city has its own minor-league baseball,
hockey, basketball, and lacrosse squads, and a host of amateur teams in a
variety of other sports. And we’re not all spectators: Rochester
has a wealth of sports leagues for people looking to get in on the action.
Sure, we’ve got your typical soccer, softball, bowling, and volleyball leagues.
But the Greater Rochester area is also host to more off-beat organizations.
Disc golf, table tennis, roller derby — whatever tickles your sports and
recreation fancy, you can probably find other Rochesterians
gathering to give it a try. Below are just a few of the unique sports leagues in
Rochester. If you’d like suggest
other off-beat activities, leave your comments on this
article at rochestercitynewspaper.com.

Kickball

The Kickball League of Rochester
started in the fall of 2007 with 45 people and just four teams. When play ended
last season it had grown to 236 teams accommodating more than 5000 players.

            Ryan
Kimball, founder and owner of the league, decided to start an official group
for the popular grade-school sport after “kicking around the idea for a while,”
he says.

            Kimball says
that league play closely resembles that of fourth-grade recess, except without
the fear of being picked last (and with more beer). It’s also a great way to
enjoy the parks of Rochester, he
says. The league usually plays at GeneseeValleyPark
on Elmwood Avenue, on the
seven dirt fields and 13 self-made grass fields, with games typically taking
place every weekday.

            The spring
league runs April through June, summer is June through August, fall is August
to October, and the league even plays in the winter, between December and
February- the more snow the merrier, says Kimball. Players of all skill levels
are welcome, but must be 21 and over. Memberships cost $15-$30 per person,
based on the number of weeks you play. Also, $10 will be donated to a local
charity for every team that registers.

            Kimball has
a strong interest in giving back to the community while simultaneously
expanding social networks and keeping the league’s
“Let’s have fun” rule a top priority. For more information, including
registration and schedules, visit rockickball.net.

Disc Golf

Much like regular golf, the object of disc golf is to
complete each hole in the fewest tries. Each hole has a par, and the only
difference is that instead of whacking a tiny ball into a slightly-less-tiny
hole, this time you throw a disc into a big metal basket.

            The Greater
Rochester Disc Golf Club runs a league that begins in mid-April and runs for 20
weeks. Its members play Thursdays at 6 p.m.
on the eight various courses throughout Rochester.
It costs $25 to join the club, and you even get a t-shirt, towel, and backpack.

            To get
started, head to your local sporting-goods store and grab a disc for $8-$15.
But don’t just grab your average Frisbee; disc-golf discs are smaller in
diameter and denser. There are more than 100 different kinds of discs, but the
three most important are drivers, midrange, and putters. The difference is in
the edge of the disc; drivers have a sharper edge for better wind penetration,
while putters are blunter for improved control, but less distance.

            Beginners
are welcome to join, and while the sport is usually played as singles, this
league plays doubles to increase speed of play and allow for a less stressful
game. And with two teams to a hole, you often play with a more experienced team
and have a chance to pick up a few tips.

            “A lot of
newer people have greatly improved through our club by joining the league,” says
Club President Ryan Hand. “It kind of allows the league also to be a
developmental league.”

            Hand enjoys
getting outside to play the game, and also the fact that it only takes about an
hour to play 18 holes — much faster than ball golf.

            Rochester
is developing into a disc-golf mecca. During the last week of July, the club will
host the 2011 Amateur and Junior Disc Golf World Championships (check pdga.com),
with an anticipated 600-700 golfers coming to town. Time to
start practicing.

            For more
information about the club, including course maps and schedules, visit
grdgc.org.

Roller Derby

If you spent your childhood roller skating on the sidewalk,
relive your youth with a little more intensity by joining the Roc City Roller
Derby. This league has been around since 2008 and is recognized as an
apprentice league by the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (wftda.com). It
currently includes more than 100 women split over three home teams: the
5-H8-5’s, Rotten Chesters, and Midtown Maulers.

            Roller derby
is played with two teams on a track. Each team has four blockers and one jammer. The jammer’s job is to
score points by passing opposing players, and the blockers try to stop the
opposing jammer and help their own. The game is
played in two 30-minute halves and is broken up into two-minute jams.

            Colette Blais has been a member of the league for three years and
plays as a blocker. “The opportunities for women to be in full-contact sports
are pretty limited,” she says. “To have an organized, full-contact sports team
that’s just women is completely different.” Blais
enjoys both the comeraderie and competitiveness the
league has to offer.

            Every fall,
a boot camp is held for new players — or as the seasoned derby players refer to
them, “fresh meat.” The boot camp includes several weeks of basic training in
techniques like stops, falls, turns, and agility. Once a player passes the
assessment to stay with the league, they go into the “Roc Quarry” and continue
to practice and learn more advanced techniques until they are
 drafted into one of the home
teams.

            Dues cost
$40 per month, and each player must also purchase her own gear, which Blaise estimates to be about $300 for items like skates,
pads, and the signature fishnet stockings. For more information on tryouts, or for
this season’s schedule, visit rocderby.com.

Table Tennis

When Mary Beth MacClaren’s
9-year-old son starting playing ping-pong competitively, she could only sit and
watch for so long. Now, she is secretary of the non-profit board and
tournament director for Genesee Valley Table Tennis Club.

            While MacClaren just plays for fun, there are many who take the
game more seriously and have bigger plans with the sport. League member Mike
Brown’s goal is to play for the national paralympic
team. “It’s the best thing that’s going for me,” he says. Brown plays table
tennis four times a week and is headed to Milwaukee
in July to qualify for the national team.

            Leagues run
Monday through Wednesday at the RochesterSportsGarden
(1460 East Henrietta Road),
and there is aopen play on Saturdays from 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

            Membership
fee for Saturday play is at most $135 for the year, depending on when you join.
Playing in a league runs $225 for September through April, or $60 for June
through August.

            Players
range in age from 7 to 82. “It’s really a sport that works for everybody,” MacClaren says. “The more competitive players and a lot of
the junior players play like what you see on ESPN.”

            So instead
of turning on your TV, check out the sport locally and maybe you’ll realize you
can only sit and watch for so long. For more information
visit gvttc.com.

Darts

If you see a group of friends throwing darts at your local
bar, they might be playing for kicks. Or they might just be playing in the Genesee
Valley Darts Association.

            However,
even the GVDA is careful not to take the sport too seriously. “We’re really a
social league with a dart problem,” says Jon Karnisky,
the current league vice president.

            The GVDA has
been supporting and promoting the sport of steel-tipped darts in the Greater
Rochester area since the late 1970’s. There are currently about 300 members and
31 teams in the league.

            No matter
your level of dart throwing expertise (or lack thereof),
you can still join at one of the five different skill divisions, ranging from novice
to expert. For serious players, the GVDA runs qualifiers for the American Dart
Organization (adodarts.com) to send people to regional play, where they can then
qualify for national play.

            The best
time for new members to join the GVDA is at the end of May, when the summer
season begins. But you can also head to one of the various participating bars
before that and meet the players.

            President
Dave DeBruyne has met a lot of friends through the
league, and one particularly important acquaintance. “I met my wife playing
darts,” he says. “So that’s score one for darts, I guess.”

            Dues for the
summer season are only $5, and the whole year costs $30. For more information,
including a current schedule of matches and participating bars, visit
thegvda.org.

This article appears in Mar 16-22, 2011.