This is serious. This week, the Eau Claire Parks and Rec kickball season begins. The fields are groomed, the bases are in place, and the dugouts are ready. On Tuesday, June ninth of the year two-thousand-and-nine, a group of rag-tag ballers – staff, contributors, and friends of Volume One – will step onto a field in Eau Claire’s great Carson Park to take their first step toward a rightful place in kickball history.

With many hot summer night’s battles ahead, Volume One kicks off the league in the very first bout of the year, right at 6pm, toe-to-toe with a legendary and brutal squad: The Mousetrap. They’ve lost a couple of their finest over the last year, but they’ve replaced them with strong rookie contenders who are ready to lay down the law.

But little do they know, the warriors in black and white have matured. Volume One’s team has grown. They’ve gotten stronger, they’ve gotten faster, and they’ve gotten smarter. But more than ever, they’re hungry. Hungry for wins, for inevitable victory. With a fire in our belly and a fierceness in our cry, Volume One shall take this first victory and build upon it. Build until we stand atop a mountain of broken teams and shattered dreams. For only then, will our true light shine. Only then will we be known … as champions.