Reporter: The Syracuse Sports Association is a local sports and social club that takes places at number of parks around Onondaga County. It allows people of all ages to play sports and make friends.
Chris Ramsden – Member of the SSA: Everyone that I’ve been on a team with has been friends. You see a lot of relationships too, not just friendships, but you know, relationships, marriages, things like that.
Reporter: Participants also have some incentives to come to the park. A free picture of Bud Light after every game.
Chris Ramsden: We don’t come out for the free picture… believe it or not, we don’t.
Reporter: The SSA has a number of different sports, throughout the year, both indoor and outdoor.
Chris Ramsden: Kickball goes like from early Spring to mid fall or something like that, so it’s about eight months.
Reporter: Some sports are played year-round.
Chris Ramsden: They do like flag football all year round, they do basketball and volleyball usually year round.
Reporter: The SSA is a community based organization and is open to people of all ages.
Chris Ramsden: There’s some 18-year-olds around, which is basically the start end. We’ve got a 42-year-old that’s playing with us. We’ve seen old people play, we’ve seen old men play.
Reporter: Ramsden says younger kids get the opportunity to play in the league as well.
Chris Ramsden: A lot of the tournaments, we’ll have kids playing, just ya know to fill out the rosters. And it’s a good cause for that and everything like that.
Reporter: The SSA is all about having fun, but Ramsden says the competition is no joke.
Chris Ramsden: It gets real competitive sometimes. Some people have been kicked out for fighting and things like that so.
Reporter: He says the SSA does a great job promoting itself.
Chris Ramsden: The company, they do a lot of stuff year-round. And they just try and keep their name in the community as much as possible.
Reporter: Brandon Williams, N-C-C News.
The Syracuse Sports Association is a local sports and social club that gives adults a chance to continue playing the sports they love.
The SSA gives adults the opportunity to compete in many sports, including; basketball, bowling, corn hole, dodge ball, flag football, kickball, races, softball, and volleyball. The league is open to men and women of all ages. They play at a number of parks around Onondaga County.
Chris Ramsden, a seven-year member of the SSA, says he has seen players both young and old participate in the group.
“There’s some 18-year-olds around, which is basically the start end,” said Ramsden. “We’ve got a 42-year-old that’s playing with us. We’ve seen old people play, we’ve seen old men play.”
The SSA allows people to have fun in their free time, while also making new friends. Ramsden says he considers all of his current and former teammates as friends.
“Everyone that I’ve been on a team with has been friends,” said Ramsden. “You see a lot of relationships too, not just friendships, but you know, relationships, marriages, things like that.”
He also says the league gets very competitive.
“You will have a lot of competitive people,” said Ramsden. “There’s a couple of people that will stack teams to get the best chance to win. It gets real competitive. Some people have been kicked out for fighting.”
The SSA is not just something fun to do in the summer, the league runs year-round. Most of the indoor sports are year-round, while the outdoor sports usually last about eight months of the year.
Syracuse Kickball Park, located in Liverpool. One of many parks used by the SSA is Onondaga County.
Baldwinsville Community Park - Site of softball games for the SSA.
