Those looking for fun evening activities in and around Kirkland still have a few opportunities to get involved in adult sports leagues before the divisions fill up for the summer.
The city of Kirkland offers two sports: softball at Lee Johnson Field in downtown, and beach volleyball at Juanita Beach Park. Play begins in mid-July, with a deadline to sign up two weeks before the first games begin.
The beach volleyball league, which will enter its third summer season in July, is expected to be nearly full by the time matches start.
“Those numbers are growing,” said NeSha Thomas-Schadt, sport and fitness coordinator with the city of Kirkland. “We had eight teams when we first started, and now we have four divisions with at least 20 teams.”
The city offers women’s upper and lower divisions, which play on Mondays and Wednesdays. The co-ed upper and lower divisions play on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
The women’s lower division is already full, but there is room for additional four-player teams in the other divisions.
Matches begin around 6 p.m. and because the courts don’t have lighting, play is limited by the sunset. Thomas-Schadt said the city tries to keep weekend evenings free of league games.
“We want to find a balance there,” she said. “The courts are public, so we try to keep them as open as we can but still offer services out there.”
The demand for beach volleyball teams has followed the same trend as the city’s indoor league.
“Those leagues do fill every season,” Thomas-Schadt said. “We have a wait list that is full every season because we don’t have enough courts and times to fill the need.”
Softball has been a different story, with numbers on the decline. In the six years Thomas-Schadt has been with the city, there have been several summers in which the city hasn’t received enough interest to run all the leagues it offers.
Softball leagues take up time in the evenings beginning in July. The co-ed league plays on Sunday afternoons and the men’s lower division plays on Monday and Tuesday, with the men’s intermediate division playing on Wednesday and Thursday.
Kirkland has experimented with a handful of other sports, such as adult soccer, kickball and flag football, but the sports didn’t generate much interest. The city also offers a host of youth sports opportunities and camps, which takes up a majority of the sports and fitness division’s attention.
The registration deadline for summer sports is June 27. A four-person volleyball team costs $230 to register, while a softball team of up to 20 players costs $880 for a 16-game season.
To register, visit the city website at www.kirklandwa.gov.
