Exclusive: Inside The Black AF Recess Kickball League

adidas x Recess Kickball League Brooklyn Championship — Recess Kickball League (RKL)

When’s the last time you played a game of kickball? For some it was probably in middle school, and for many others even earlier than that. We on the other hand got the ball rolling this past Saturday (September 20) with a few fellas and a handful of strikingly beautiful ladies who’ve each come together over the past five years to form Recess Kickball League.

Started in 2020 as an initial response to staying healthy, connected and, well, sane during the global pandemic, RKL has now grown into a multi-city organization with chapters in New York, New Jersey, Los Angeles and soon many other states with strong Black and Brown populations — looking at you, Atlanta! Now with funding by adidas, the founders are looking to expand in ways that will be impactful for everyone involved.

First, let’s get into how it all got started straight from the guys who form the founding team.

You’ve got Emmanuel ‘Manny’ Maduakolam, a fellow brother of the pen who has a respectable resume in the media world and is very much a co-captain to the league. Then there’s the ever-vocal Daemon Snead, also known as “Tubbs Krueger,” a co-founder and the official emcee who keeps things lively on the loud speaker. The two Chris’s of the group — Chris Jones and Chris “CT” Thomas — are polar opposites in physical appearance but equal in both their genuine spirts and sense of humor. Rounding out RKL’s “founding fathers” is Ermias “Erm” Tessema, who can easily be considered the mastermind behind logistics and making sure everything’s in place.

“The sole reason why we started RKL was basically because during the pandemic, when we were all kind of separated, we felt the isolation viscerally,” says Manny, who went on to describe the passion behind the league by adding, “it was very much like, ‘How can we in a safe way bring our people together?’ We were just thinking as friends, so we took it outside to the park to play a game that was the most inclusive thing since childhood. By the end of summer, it was about 40 or 50 people showing up. It was all just thinking about how to properly bring our BIPOC, working, professional adults together.”

“We’re just trying to build the biggest group chat in the world,” Tubbs jokingly adds on, yet there’s definitely some truth in his words based on the ever-growing turnout from game to game. “We want to develop something where people are able to be in a place that’s safe and community-driven. It’s essentially adult fun, which can be tough to find in big cities when in search for a tribe or people to co-exist with. With [parent company] Glasses Global, us five brothers are setting out on a goal to make people feel safe. We feel no pressure to it either, because so many people around us are becoming the greatest people because of who are around them — shoutout to my brother Sérgio [Santos] with Recess Run Club. With this ‘adult fun’ being created, we’re really just out here making opportunities to simply be near each other. This kickball league really has an indescribable energy and spirit.”

“The main thing I love about RKL is the family and camaraderie,” assists Jones, and you can tell he’s speaking from a sincere point of view. He makes his point by adding, “the friendships we’ve seen blossom from the time of meeting at the draft to now teammates delivering each other’s babies as doulas are just not seen in other leagues! RKL is really the connective tissue to a lot of friendships in Brooklyn and Los Angeles. The world is crazy right now with rights getting taken away left and right, so here feels safe for everyone to come out and play.”

“We’re just gathered around the game of kickball,” CT says in a way to simplify the nature of how easy everything flows, further nothing, “we decided to get outside and do something fun with social distancing, and really just tap back in with that kid in you. We all played kickball at some point at recess in school, so that’s kind of how we got the name and concept. We’ve been building joy in Brooklyn now for five years, L.A. for two years and coming to Atlanta soon.”

Erm rounded things out with a testimony that pointed towards RKL’s overall growth, stating, “I’m just blessed to see all these beautiful people in both coasts now growing to this level of success. To me, that’s people pulling up on their own accord without us telling them to; there’s something really beautiful here. As we think about what we want next, the team has been saying that every city deserves its own RKL. If L.A. has one and Brooklyn has one, Atlanta should definitely have one — Dallas, too! Our hopes with this is to scale it enough to where every city that deserves this type of community and the special moments we make can get it.”

Everything the guys of Recess Kickball League attested to above was proven in both the All-Star Game we played in and the grand finale Championship Game that was a pleasure to watch. “It’s never about who’s the best or most athletic,” Manny assured, and the gameplay gave note to that in how jovial it all felt while never losing its athleticism or competitive nature. It’s really about helping your fellow teammate be a better version of themselves, as Manny put it, “be it kickball, emotionally and/or spiritually.”

…but still, shoutout to the Juice Crew for nabbing their third straight win this year!