Pictured (from top left standing descending downwards)

Whitney Holloway, Leslie Rosales, Seun Sobande, Ramel Page, Tiffany Otto, Bennett Bennett, Kasia Gibbs, Alexis Grimstead, Marcus Benett, Alusine Jalloh, Jacques Morel (C), Kiana Tipton (C).

photo credit: Emmanuel Maduakolam

My Blueprint co-captain Kiana Tipton. The first overall pick from Season ‘22. The Blueprints had a rough 2022 season but Kiana and I were determined to change things and I think we did. Our 2023 season did not end as we would have hoped, but 2024 is right around the corner.

This photo is from our first game against Gold. Kasia Gibbs (pictured to the left of the sign) bossed us up - designing our logo, printing this banner and the names on on our jerseys (in the next photo).

Chantella ‘The Only 12 You Can Trust’ Mitchell. She is our 2022 co-captain and is responsible for beginning the foundation the team is based on today.

Each and every game felt like an event. We were always playing in front of a full house. Hearing the roars of 100+ people in and out really added a level of stakes to the game that you wouldn’t get out of the average intramural.

As evidenced by these pictures, I took a lot of shots this summer (pun intended). Seen here are members of Code Red.

RKL is about community and get togethers like this allowed us all to hang out and meet people from other teams.

This is Sam, captain of the Black Mambas. They were our scrimmage partners throughout the season. Primarily at short stop, his style of play his methodical but cutting. He’ll catch you sleeping if you’re not paying attention. He and his co-captain, Jasmine Hill (who caught pretty much everything at first base), coached their team to the Juneteenth Trophy and a close win over my team, The Blueprints, in the first round of the playoffs.

Pastor Tubbs Krieger addresses his flock.

If you’re part of RKL you can definitely hear this photo.

Here we see Chinedu, a member of my team The Blueprints and his sister Nnenna, a member of 24k Gold.

The way I describe RKL to folks is that it is comprised of a community of different groups of friends, colleagues and family dispersed across 8 teams. It’s like a village, tbh.

24k Gold member Noami Bogale at her 30th birthday celebration.

I went to so many birthday parties just off the strength of being in the league with folks. At my big age, still making friends. Who would’ve thought?

Kiana & AJ debrief after practice.

RKL is such a commitment. We (and the majority of the other 8 teams) practiced weekly for 5 months. Insane. But through all those practices, we gained new family. It was great.

The 2022 RKL MVP Darien “Dar” LaBeach adding new pitches to his repertoire during a small joint practice between his team the Supernovas and mine, The Blueprints.

AJ hit The Blueprints and RKL like a rocket. He had a great season, too (he kicked .850 for the entire season. I have the stats to back it up). I can’t wait to see what he does in ‘24.

No matter how hard fought the game, we always came together as a community. It’s all love in the end of the day. (But some of those matches did get pretty intense, ngl)

Silver played all of their games with such fun tenacity. Dar, pictured here holding the snearkers that Rick Sentine is signing, was the center of that squad. Silver’s captain, Brandon Littlejohn (holding his finger in a celebratory #1) and Christian Ellis next to him were crucial pieces of an eventual championship team.

Marcus Bennett, seen here top left leading toast, came with the roaring energy of his hometown Detroit both on and off the field. During a rough patch we had in the season, Marcus created a new chant saying ,”WHO GOT MY BACK?” The refrain was simply, “I GOT YOUR BACK.”

2 members of Glasses Global - the creative agency behind The Recess Kickball League - playing a few games ahead of Marlon Craft’s listening party.

These brothers are 2 parts of Glasses Global (not pictured is Tubbs Krieger, Ermias Tessema & Emmanuel “Manny” Maduakolam). They pulled together hundreds of people every weekend for kickball, community service and some damn good parties.

We really did this practically every week for a summer.

My two teammates Tiffany and Bennett enjoying VIP at Afropunk.

The Silver Supernovas huddle up in between innings in their championship match against the Orange Juice Crew.

The Orange Juice Crew, captained by Saba Mateos and Kenny St. George, huddle up in between innings during the finals.

In my humble opinion, Juice Crew was the template. There were a number of things (drills, field permitting, warm ups, ethos) the captains Saba & Kenny brought to their team that would later be replicated throughout the league. They ended up losing in the final, but they’ll be scary next year.

More than 200 (beautiful majority Black) people showed up to the final game.

Two of Juice Crew’s best players strategize during the game. Omari (r) was fun always fun to watch.

Feven, the 2023 RKL Championship Game MVP, was locked in for the full 6 innings. RKL is an intramural sport, but it is still amazing to see people elevate their intensity to levels only seen in the highest spheres of competition.

At around the 3rd inning it became clear that she was on a different planet from the rest of the field and my lens found her more and more.

Pictured: Shashank “Shank” Chandra & Darien “Dar” LaBeach

Pictured (L-R): Brandon Littlejohn, Shashank Chandra, Dar LaBeach, Christian Ellis (white hair), Marcella “Marci” Tillett

Pictured: Sam Blackmon at the right

Check out this statline - 4/4, 2 RBIs and 2 clutch catches. In a championship game! Insane.

You can tell they were working towards this all season. Congrats!

L-R from the top - Kamaria Gboro, Feven Abadi, Brandon Littlejohn, Jaleesa Kirk, Marcella “Marci” Tillett, Shashank Chandra, Rick Sustine, Adair Greene, Darien “Dar” Labeach.

pictured L-R: Tiffany Otto, Kasia Gibbs, Jozen Cummings, Leslie Rosales, Chinedu Onyema, Alexis Grimstead, Whitney Holloway, Ramel Page, Jacques Morel, Chantella Mitchell, Marcus Bennett, Seun Sobande

photo credit: Nani Miranda