For at least one afternoon, college students had the opportunity to relive recess in elementary school.

Oakland’s Phi Sigma Sigma sorority created a special afternoon of childhood nostalgia with a kickball tournament Saturday at Auburn Hills Civic Center Park.

The day was one of fun and reminiscence of being a kid, as the players competed with very few established rules as many attendees were gossiping with one another and catching up with old friends. Free food was available and a DJ played an extensive list of hits from AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long” to Britney Spears’ “Till the World Ends.”

The tournament was for a good cause, as donations and ticket sales for a 50/50 raffle were donated to the National Kidney Foundation.

“(Kickball) is very important to Phi Sigma Sigma,” said sorority member Shelby Bladworth. “We’ve always had our national charity be the National Kidney Foundation, and our national chapter and other chapters around the world have done kickball, so we just started it here at Oakland.”

Five of Oakland’s fraternities and sororities (Alpha Delta Pi, Gamma Phi Beta, Phi Sigma Sigma, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Tau Kappa Epsilon) were represented in the tournament.

“We have a lot of support from all the different Greek organizations,” Bladworth said.  “Three of the four fraternities will be here, and two other sororities will be here.”

“We have about 110 players here today,” said Phi Sigma Sigma’s Michelle Fabry. “They’re all people at OU. Some of them are our friends from OU, so we advertised around the school and we got people that way.”

When asked about Phi Sigma Sigma’s choosing to donate to the National Kidney Foundation, Fabry said, “It’s just a (charity) we’ve been a part of for so long and that we really love to help out. We do the National Kidney Walk every year, so that’s where this money’s going to go. I’d like to say (we will raise) about $500 today.”

While there were established rules, including 3-inning games, most rules were loosely enforced, and players could even change teams if their former team was eliminated. Kris Johnson kicked three home runs, the most for any player on the day, and they were each for a different team.

The tournament did have a winner, but the end result was not the most important aspect.  In the end, it was about having fun, bonding with friends, and having a great time, all for a good cause.