RUMFORD — A Rumford woman who grew up in Lewiston playing kickball in a parking lot is starting a kickball league here.

However, the goal isn’t to participate in the World Kickball Championship on Columbus Day Weekend in Las Vegas or scrimmage with Portland’s kickball leagues.

It’s for people to have fun, socialize and get some exercise, Dorie Oakes said Friday morning.

“You do not have to be in good shape to play, you just have to want to get out there and play,” she said.

There is no cost to play and participants don’t have to live in the River Valley area. The next game starts at 4 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 14, at Hosmer Field off Falmouth Street.

By Friday morning, she said 19 people indicated through Facebook that they’re either attending or might attend if they’re not working.

“It’s a family event. Bring the kids and let them get some fresh air running around and playing,” she said.

Oakes, 39, got the idea while talking with friends about things to do for exercise outdoors.

“Sometimes it’s harder to get the oomph to go to the gym, and sometimes people laugh at you or have a certain judgment or whatever, and so we thought why not get a game going where everyone’s getting together,” Oakes said.

That’s when she recalled the baseball-like game many children play in fourth or fifth grade.

“I thought of a game that is pretty simple to play: kickball,” she said. “All you have to do is kick and run. You don’t have to try to hit a ball with a bat or throw anything.”

She said Lewiston children played it a lot in her neighborhood when she was little.

“We had a parking lot where we played and whatever garbage was on the ground, we would use as bases,” Oakes said.

“This was mostly when I was living in Little Canada and the River Street area.”

“Living in the city, you’re not very close to ball fields,” she said.

“I don’t even know where the closest ball field to Little Canada is, so we made our own.”

The league debuted two weeks ago, but only five people participated, since word was just getting out via Facebook.

“That was OK, but we want a lot more,” Oakes said. “We want to actually have games.”

“We just want it to be a family event and for people who want to get out and have exercise, and also people who don’t get out and socialize that much to come out and make new friends.”

As the league grows, she hopes to get teams going for children and older teens. Volunteers are also being sought.

“If people can’t do (kickball) physically, we can also use coaches, we can also use umpires if they can handle that, and we need fans, you know,” she said.

“We need people to root us people on who can’t run.”

For more information, contact Oakes at 357-4075, Facebook or [email protected].

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