LEAGUE KICK-STARTS SCHOOLYARD MEMORIES.

Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer

NORTH HOLLYWOOD - There's something primal, for a second-grader, about sinking a Converse All-Star into a giant red kickball.

But for adults hooked on the latest retro sports craze, that schoolyard poiiing has become their passion.

``Here we go now, here we go,'' yelled 29-year-old Vincent Flood, clapping his hands as fellow kickballer Clark Hill dove into home at a recent pickup game in North Hollywood. ``Bring it home - slide!''

They call themselves dorks. They call themselves childhood regressives. They even boast such team names as ``Kit Shickers'' and ``Awesome Helicopter Ninjas.'' And they love to tip a glass.

World Adult Kickball has hit the San Fernando Valley with a Texas Hold 'Em-like fervor, with five new teams that begin official league play today. The new Studio Division is inviting all kids-at-heart to sign up for after- work games at the North Hollywood Rec Center.

What's next, tetherball, hopscotch and foursquare?

``The older I get, I don't know if it's the younger I feel, or the younger I'm trying to feel,'' said Flood, a bar manager at the swinging Derby nightclub in Los Feliz. ``I'm reliving the glory years.''

Perhaps these 20- and 30-somethings peaked during grade school. Or perhaps they see recess as the halcyon days. Or perhaps they just want to spotlight the team sport that never rose to jockdom.

About 50 red-ball renegades - many of whom work for Disney or Warner Bros. studios - have been taking to the diamonds recently for two hours of five-inning games.

``The allure is you don't get as many meatheads as in softball,'' said Scott Jones, 27, the new head of the Studio Division, who works for Warner Bros. promotions.

``A meathead is someone who is reliving glory days that never really happened - they're guys who turn the church picnic into the World Series.''

What began as the lark of the few frat boys in Washington, D.C., who founded the World Adult Kickball Association seven years ago is now hitting its stride in Los Angeles.

Whereas a WAKA league in Hollywood drew only a few dozen retro chic-ers several years ago, this month the league bounced into Venice Beach and North Hollywood to draw a total 18 teams and 300 players.

Across the nation, 22,000 have signed up for kickball play, with 40,000 expected to swarm the fields by fall.

It's fun. It fosters new friends and romances. And it's best played prior to a jaunt to the local bar, organizers say.

``You have to be a really hip, groovy person to get into kickball,'' said WAKA spokeswoman Tiffany Ficklin, a self-proclaimed kickball ``dork'' who founded a league in Albuquerque, N.M.. ``When people get a hold of a big rubber kickball, they swell it, they hold it, they bounce it for that poing-poing-poing sound.''

Kickball is like softball without bats, up to 11 on the field (at least four of each sex), playing five-inning games. The foot-wide ball is rolled, or skipped to the plate for a one-foot strike zone. As the rules state: no ``bouncies'' allowed.

Who needs getting whacked in the head in dodge ball when you can scrape your shins in kickball?

``It's pretty hard to be full of yourself when you're playing kickball,'' said 29-year-old Richard Manfredi, head of the Hollywood Division, who took up kickball when his wife took up knitting and crocheting.

``I was originally looking for a dodge ball group, but it was too intense. I wanted a less ironic, less self-referential, less full-of-itself crowd.''

For Yuko Shiroma, 27, of Sherman Oaks, it's all about game prep.

``This is my tactic,'' explained Shiroma, in pigtails and crimson socks, brandishing a bacon-wrapped frankfurter just before the game. ``A hot dog with onions. It's the onion breath.''

For Lisa Warren, 36, of Van Nuys, it's about team fervor.

``My team are the crazy ones, frothing at the mouth, they're all serious kickballers,'' said Warren, sitting on the sidelines nursing an injured quad. ``We're all tapping into the elementary school regression - repressed feelings of being picked last.''

And for many in this Tiki-type crowd, it's about the trip afterward to Timmy Nolan's Irish pub in Toluca Lake.

Said Jones, a native of Kansas City: ``The league as a whole gets stronger in the bar.''

Dana Bartholomew, [phone]

dana.bartholomew(at)dailynews.com

IF YOU GO

Open to anyone 21 and older who has the $65 entry fee and proof of health insurance, Studio Division kickball team play begins at 7 p.m. Monday at the North Hollywood Recreation Center, 11430 Chandler Blvd.

CAPTION(S):

4 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) David Mauch of Woodland Hills propels the kickball at Britton Carducci of Studio City for the out during a recent game.

(2 -- 4 -- color) Simon Robertshaw, above, sends the ball into play during a kickball game at the North Hollywood Recreation Center. At left, Tory Mell of Sherman Oaks pitches the ball. At right, Eugene Velasquez of Sherman Oaks moves to catch a fly ball.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer

Box:

IF YOU GO (see text)