When Cassidi Hardy started playing recreational softball in 2011, she didn’t know that she and her teammates would become lifelong friends.
Ms. Hardy had recently graduated from Boston University, where she played and coached softball. She hadn’t left her love of the sport behind. So when a friend asked if she would fill in on a team with Boston Ski and Sports Club (BSSC), Ms. Hardy once again dug her heels into the trademark clay of a softball diamond. She has played on that team ever since.
“My team has become my family,” she says. “They’re the first people I call when I have good or bad news, and it’s just something I didn’t expect when I first showed up to the field.”
Why We Wrote This
Americans – especially young adults – are seeking more in-person connection. Dating apps appeal less. Board game clubs are all the rage. To create community bonds, more are turning to team sports from softball to kickball.
Such stories are becoming more common as American adults turn to team sports to up their athletic chops and build lasting social connections. The share of adults who play a team sport grew from 11% to 18% between 2020 and 2025, according to data from CivicScience, a consumer insight firm. Interest is strongest, and growing fastest, among young adults: A separate CivicScience survey in April found that 52% of respondents between the ages of 18 and 29 expressed interest in joining a team, compared with 24% overall.
It’s part of a larger trend of Americans – especially young adults – seeking more in-person connection. Gen Zers also tend to favor in-person work more than their older colleagues and are less likely than older generations to use dating apps in search of romance. Board game clubs are all the rage. Some adults have even started attending adult sleepaway camps to recreate the easy bonds formed during childhood games of capture the flag and tug-of-war.
The change might signal an enduring cultural shift tied to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. As governments shuttered public spaces and much of social life moved online, people began to realize how much they valued in-person relationships and hobbies, says Troy Glover, director of the Healthy Communities Research Network at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.
“People were faced with a circumstance in the pandemic where they came to appreciate recreation and leisure as something that was really important to their well-being,” he says.
Although people stayed connected via Zoom and other virtual means, “it’s very difficult to replace face-to-face interaction,” Dr. Glover says. “There’s something much more human in terms of that type of connection.”
That seems to be a clear draw for many who play with BSSC, which has seen its membership balloon in recent years. Brett Crandall, the club’s director of business operations, says the number of teams nearly tripled between 2020 and 2024, rising from 1,076 to 3,100.
Ms. Hardy, who now manages BSSC’s softball and kickball programs, says it’s the bonds that participants form with their teammates at the dugout and on the field that pull them back week after week. She notes, too, that she now sees many more 20-somethings signing up than she did before the pandemic.
“That generation is starting to realize that they’re missing that socialization in person,” Ms. Hardy says. But team sports give young adults, and everyone, “an open avenue to socialize and talk about things going on in their life that maybe they don’t get the chance to talk about.”
“We’re just out here having fun”
That camaraderie is on display on an unusually chilly August evening at Donnelly Field in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where BSSC teams have gathered to play softball and kickball. On the softball diamond, amid the satisfying thwack of bats striking balls, players of all ages sprint around the bases, cheer each other on, and offer tips on form and play.
A mother of five, Ms. Hardy treats the teams she manages with an affection and energy you might expect from an experienced parent. This evening, when she spots a player she hasn’t seen in a while, she sprints to home base and wraps her in a bear hug. It’s the sort of display of fondness she wants to cultivate on and off the field.
That spirit runs through many of the players here. As her team – affectionately known as “The Dirt Eaters” – hustles to the field, Emily LaFond, a former college hockey player, says she and her friends are in it for the social life as much as the sport.
“We’re just out here having fun,” she says. “We love to play sports, but at the end of the day, we lose way more than win, and that’s OK.”
Deeper into Donnelly Field, Ms. Hardy points out two teams preparing for a game of kickball. Kickball, she says, is an especially social sport – and the truth of that quickly becomes apparent. Members of one team, collectively known as “Kick, Kick, Boom!” were quick to offer this reporter a spot in their game.
Indeed, the team feels as much like a close group of friends as it does an athletic endeavor. During their match against the “Dropkick Muccis,” members of “Kick, Kick, Boom!” have scattered, buoyant conversations in the dugout while they listen to hits like “Nothin’ but a Good Time” by Poison and “Low Rider” by War. They joke with an easy joviality and cheer for their teammates as they kick a large, rubber ball you might remember from middle school field days.
“Kickball is an easy sport,” says team captain Aelish Brown. “It’s less pressure, and people are friendly and just excited.”
After the game ends in a tie, Finn Haughn jogs off the field, dressed in a bright green shirt that matches the rest of his team and a pair of athletic shorts. He shares his captain’s sentiment. Joining the kickball team was one of the first social things he did when he moved to the Boston area last September, and the team remains an important community.
“We’ve hung out outside of kickball in all sorts of ways,” he says. “The roster at any given time can be pretty mixed up, but the group chat is still popping with all the original members. Everybody stays friends.”
Romance on the diamond
It’s not just fellowship between teammates that makes such activities important parts of our social lives, says Dr. Glover. The people you encounter regularly but don’t get to know beyond a face – for example, a player from another team – can serve as a reminder of an “imagined community” that’s wider than just our social circle.
“What’s really important for a functioning society is that we start to consciously recognize others as belonging to our communities,” Dr. Glover says. Virtual interactions, though an important part of social life in modern times, don’t always come with those benefits, he says.
Back at the softball diamond, Ms. LaFond says she’s a prime example of someone who built a community through a recreational sports league. Not only does she get to spend time being active with her friends, but she also met her fiancé through the team.
“It’s pretty cool that I was able to meet my future husband playing softball,” she says. “It’s just a great environment to build those lasting relationships, whether romantically or just among friends.
“That’s why we’re still playing after all these years,” she adds.
