No funny business: Chamber members take kickball very seriously

by Judith Hruz

Editor

It was a sizzling 90 degrees at game time.

The iPhone weather app read: “Excessive Heat Warning.”

The sun was still blazing in the sky, despite its evening descent toward the horizon.

This was not the Baltimore Orioles or the Washington Nationals, who also took the diamond on June 20 — the sweltering first day of summer.

This was the Olney Chamber of Commerce – Team Blue vs. Team Orange, reflecting the colors in its logo – playing its first kickball game for its monthly networking mixer.

The event was sponsored by State Farm Insurance agent Carlos Covarrubias, a member of the chamber.

Brad Scott, director of the Olney Boys and Girls Club and vice president of the Olney Chamber of Commerce, provided a great field for the chamber to use for its premiere kickball contest..

Covarrubias said he thought the game would build the relationships of chamber members in a way that a standard networking mixer might not.

“I thought it would be a way to learn more about each other,” he said.

Not only is kickball a fun activity, “it shows that businesspeople are part of the community in other ways besides their businesses,” he said.

Covarrubias said kickball is a sport that can be played by people of all ages, genders and abilities, too.

“It was a great way to network in a casual, fun setting,” said Jaime Costolo, deputy director of the chamber.

“We encourage our members to bring us ideas and we were excited to try something new,” she said, adding, “We’d love to host another social sports night, as everyone seemed to have a lot of fun and make great connections.”

The players – aka chamber members – did seem to have a lot of fun. But don’t doubt for a minute that they played their hearts out.

Despite the heat, the ballplayers kicked, ran, jumped and encouraged each other with great gusto, seemingly forgetting how miserable the weather was.

Now that’s serious business.

And the game ended with the Blue Team beating the Orange Team, 10-7.

Or was it the Orange Team beating the Blue Team?

No one really seemed to know which team was which, but that was part of the fun.