Philadelphia Sports Leagues Offering Thousands In Region Way To Kick Up Fitness Routine, Spark Active Social Scene
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Adults aren't assigned playtime or recess, and that's a shame. So instead thousands throughout the Philadelphia region have taken matters into their own hands.
"Roughly in a year, we have about 50,000 participants," Philadelphia Sports Leagues general manager Eric Long said.
Philadelphia Sports Leagues is wildly popular, in fact, it's one of the top five largest social sports organizations in the country.
The size and scope is pretty mind-blowing even to Long.
"When we sit and talk about what we do for a living and they are just like, 'how many people? How many teams? Every night of the week?'" Long said.
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Now in its third official year, Philadelphia Sports Leagues manages teams participating in a full range of sports -- dozens in fact -- from the traditional basketball and soccer to the less conventional.
"We do some bar games, cornhole, giant beer pong," Long said.
Here's how it works. After a group or a "free agent" signs up to join a team, PSL provides the equipment, facilities, team shirts and trained officials. All a player needs is the registration fee and small referee payments.
"It's competitive I'll tell you that," referee Jim Welsh said.
Welsh has been a ref with PSL from the start.
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"That's basically the best part of it, we all become friends," Welsh said.
As far as bonding goes, a summer evening spent like this can't be beaten.
We caught up with these PSL athletes kicking butt at kickball, essentially recreating the recesses we all wish we had in elementary school but with a vibe a little closer to happy hour.
"It's a great way to not only network, meet new people. You can sign up a team with friend, colleagues, with people from your workplace or just people from the neighborhood," Long said.
Partner programs mean that access to the Philadelphia Sports Leagues extends beyond the multiple facilities in Philly.
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"Even as far out as Conshy, even King of Prussia, then we have some other suburbs, as well. We are up in Lehigh, in West Chester, even in Jersey so we have a little of everything to offer to everybody," Long said.
PSL can be especially valuable to the so-called free agents or those without a group of friends or coworkers to join with.
For newcomers to the area, it's a way to kick up their fitness routine and spark an active social scene.
"For me, I only moved to Philly about two years ago so I initially just started after work playing pickup soccer and then through PSL I met more people. Now I have more closer friends here in the city," PSL soccer player Mohsiur Rahman said.
