A day before playing their third slow pitch softball game of the fall season at Blue Valley Rec, players on KMA were in the dugout suite at Kauffman Stadium. From a distance, you could see the players talking, laughing and enjoying the Royals’ final home Saturday game of the season. The players on KMA are more than Sunday afternoon softball teammates. They are friends. They are family.
As far as a few of the original members can figure, KMA (Kensington Manor Association) softball team started in 1990. They were young husbands living in Kensington Manor.
They decided to start a slow pitch softball team and play at Blue Valley Rec (then known as Miller’s Woods). It was an alternative to playing golf.
Twenty-three years later, the team is still together. They have been around so long that many of their sons, who watched when they were children, now play on the team when they get the opportunity.
“We just keep plugging away,” said John Reedy, an original member and KMA historian. “If we started losing every season, then it would be time to hang it up. Nobody has really retired. Guys have left the team; it is more because they moved away.
“It is a great bunch of guys to hang out with. A lot of them have become my best friends. Half the time it is fun to tell people I still play.”
KMA is like many softball teams that play at Blue Valley Rec. It starts as a collection of friends from the same neighborhood or job and the team sticks together for years. Teammates see each other’s children grow up.
KMA is a glowing example of the strong bond that can grow on the softball fields at Blue Valley Rec.
It is amusing watching the fathers and sons tease each other. Matt Lang, 24, sometimes plays on the team with his dad, Tim, who has been a member of KMA for 19 years.
“We help them out when they need it because they are getting kind of old,” said Matt Lang, with a huge smile at his comment.
“It was blast coming out here when I was younger because all the dads knew each other and we were all right around the same area. It was fun hanging out with them. The camaraderie is what I enjoy.”
Tim Lang said, “It is fun when our kids play. That is the neat part of it.
“I enjoy it. It is doing something with your son. A lot of times, when my son plays, my wife will come out, otherwise, she will not show up.”
The softball players admit that their Sunday activity is a guy thing. Still, through the years, their wives show up for some of the games. On the second week of the fall season, Liz O’Dwyer was there to watch her husband, Austin, play.
“He really enjoys playing softball with all the guys he has known for so long,” Liz O’Dwyer said. “It is just a fun way for him to get out, socialize and compete. He likes the competition.”
Actually, one of the main reasons Liz was at this particular game was to help her husband get ready for an evening at Kauffman Performing Arts. Three players and their wives were attending a performance that evening.
Austin O’Dwyer said no way did he ever think the team would be around this long.
“It is a very nice complex,” Austin O’Dwyer said. “It is close to home. When we started, most of us lived at 124th and Switzer so it was easy to get to.
“Guys come and go, but it has always been a great group of guys.”
Most of the players are in their mid 50s to early 60s. They won their spring and summer men’s recreation league. In all, they have won 15 T-shirts.
“One of the major things they enjoy so much is beating some of the younger teams, knowing they have been together so long.” Liz said.
One of the best memories Gary Pener has of his days playing with KMA occurred on his 50th birthday, three years ago.
“We played in an open tournament out here,” Gary said. “We lost the first game pretty bad. We were the last seed and played the No. 1 seed and we beat them. It was great. That was the highlight of this team. It was a memorable 50th birthday.”
Now Pener’s sons play on the team. The pride in having his sons out there with him is every bit as meaningful.”
Kyle Pener, who played at Johnson County Community College and Ottawa University, is now a member of KMA.
“I had a pretty average college baseball career,” he said. “I come out here and they think I am a stud. It is the most fun part about it. “They are always joking around. A guy swings and misses and they are making fun of him, but being friendly about it. They don’t take it too seriously.”
As players started gathering for their weekly game, Tim Lang made this observation: “Look at them,” he said pointing to his teammates, “just talking and the kids are hanging out together. It is what a lot of guys look forward to every week. It is just a laidback group. Their kids come back and visit and we let them play.”
Off the softball fields, the players on KMA have made their mark in their work world.
“It is pretty amazing what everybody on the team does,” Reedy said. “When you get on the field all that matters is playing softball. But we have guys that are executive in their companies, small business owners, all over the map, very interesting.”
Dave Henriksen, 59, says they want to win, but they always make sure they have fun.
“We will have fun regardless because we all know we have jobs to go to tomorrow,” Henriksen said. “That’s basically what it boils down to. As a result of that, nobody feels worse than me when
I make an error, but nobody yells at me.”
The Sunday softball is just a great way to begin a week, and a win puts them in an even better mood when they head to work on Monday.
“We are aging together,” said Dave Hill, 58. “We were all pretty good ball players 20 some years ago. It has been challenging to watch our skill deteriorate to some extent, but we all still have some ability.
“Now, it is as much about camaraderie as it is about the softball game.”
And the best part of it is when the dads are on the same field with their sons.
“I think that is a big part of it,” Liz O’Dwyer said. “I’ve seen some of the kids since they were little kids on the sideline, watching their dads and now they are playing.”
Several of the dads have raised sons who are now lawyers or are going to school to be a lawyer. Others are successes in other fields. They enjoy hearing the successes of their teammates’ sons and daughters.
“I know most of us have coached our sons when they were little,” said Curt Diebel, 59. “There is a lot of pride when you see your son have success.”
“Frankly, I am close with all these kids. It really is a big family. We have seen them all grow up. It is exciting for us to see them mature as young men and see their skills advance.”
Diebel said he raised a lawyer. When he made that statement, a teammate yelled, “You need one.” Curt laughed.
It was KMA having more fun and the team’s second softball game of the fall had not started.
“The teams we play in this league are the same teams we’ve been playing against for years,” Gary Pener said. “We know their names. Usually, we have a few families out here. We go to dinner afterwards. It is fun out here at Blue Valley Rec. It is competitive, too. We are not done competing.”