World Adult Kickball Association
Encyclopedia
The World Adult Kickball Association (WAKA) is the largest sanctioning body for the recreational sport of adult kickball
Kickball
Kickball is a playground game and competitive league game, similar to baseball, invented in the United States in the first half of the 20th Century. Kickball may also be known as kick baseball, base soccer, soccer-base, or soccer-baseball...

. WAKA was founded in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

, in 1998 and now has leagues across the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, as well as in countries such as India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. Although independent community and church leagues had existed for years prior to its founding, the growth of WAKA is widely credited for the popularization of the children's game as a recreational and social activity among adults. Today, there are hundreds of adult kickball leagues nationwide, both affiliated and unaffiliated with WAKA.

WAKA holds seasonal kickball divisions across the nation. Divisional winners are invited to the annual World Kickball Championship called the Founder's Cup. The location of these tournaments varies from year to year. The 2008 Founder's Cup tournament was held in Las Vegas.

Charities are also a staple of the WAKA experience. Each division is encouraged to participate in at least one charitable event each season.

WAKA recently sanctioned a division in Iraq in support of U.S. troops.

WAKA has published official rules for its kickball league. In 2005, WAKA filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia against a rival, DCKickball. In the suit, WAKA claims intellectual property
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...

 to the official rules of kickball, and seeks $356,000 in compensatory and punitive damages
Punitive damages
Punitive damages or exemplary damages are damages intended to reform or deter the defendant and others from engaging in conduct similar to that which formed the basis of the lawsuit...

. The lawsuit was settled on April 15, 2008.
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