{"id":1981,"date":"2026-06-18T22:32:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T22:32:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=1981"},"modified":"2026-06-18T22:32:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T22:32:21","slug":"social-sport-leagues-heating-up-in-arizona-as-adults-look-to-connect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=1981","title":{"rendered":"Social sport leagues heating up in Arizona as adults look to connect"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n

SCOTTSDALE, AZ \u2014 \u201cSeven.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Forty adults gather in a circle around a sand volleyball court at Indian School Park. They count off to divide into eight teams for the volleyball matches.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump awards Medal of Honor to three US servicemembers<\/a><\/p>\n

The camaraderie of recess sports persists among the group. Play for the joy of playing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a stressful time to be an adult, right?\u201d said Phoenix Fray city commissioner Hilary Neste. \u201cSo we want to encourage people to play. That is our mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adult social leagues have grown in number and size as more adults turn to them as a way to find community and stay active.<\/p>\n

According to a 2025 report from Morning Consult, 58% of adults work out or play sports at least once a week.<\/p>\n

The Valley has options for those majority of adults, Municipalities, like the City of Phoenix, offer community leagues, Arizona Sports League offers divisions of play for eight sports in locations spread across the metropolitan area and OutLoud Sports offers LGBTQ+ inclusive year-round options.<\/p>\n

Fray Phoenix is a private adult social sport league provider. As dusk brings relief to the Arizona summer air, players begin gathering at the four sand volleyball courts every Sunday night at 7 p.m.<\/p>\n

Pete Sanchez, a 55-year-old dad of three, participates in three Fray Leagues a week.<\/p>\n

\u201cSundays is sand volleyball,\u201d Sanchez said. \u201cThen Mondays is flag football, Tuesdays is adult kickball.<\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoy the competition. I make a lot of friends, and friends where we actually hang out and go out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each league has a pay-for-play model. Six weeks of indoor volleyball starting in August at a social or athletic level costs non-members between $75-$85.<\/p>\n

Privately owned social sports leagues are growing in size across the country. Organizing the leagues became such a large undertaking that the Sport & Social Industry Association has been connecting member organizations with resources since 2010.<\/p>\n

Chris Giebner, a founding member of SSIA, has owned and operated Tampa Bay Club Sport since 2002.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not an industry for the faint of heart,\u201d Giebner said. \u201cThe raw truth of it is we\u2019re in a business where half your customers lose every night.\u201d<\/p>\n

He first participated in a social league when he moved to Florida from Cincinnati in 1996.<\/p>\n

\u201cI joined a start-up, fledgling soccer league as a free agent,\u201d Giebner said, \u201cthen on that first day, I ended up meeting who became my wife.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more GOP candidates pitch themselves as the person to beat Arizona\u2019s Democratic governor<\/a><\/p>\n

It is a story that Giebner has seen repeated in the 30 years since.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have tracked, probably hundreds of marriages,\u201d Giebner said. \u201cI\u2019ve probably been to dozens of weddings of people I met through Club Sport. We\u2019ve seen dozens of on-field marriage proposals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Romances put the social in social sports in Phoenix as well. Jordyn Graham joined a Fray volleyball league when she moved to Phoenix from Texas. Michael Donovan moved to the area from New Hampshire.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would just show up at my game and leave,\u201d Graham said. \u201cHe was like \u2018hey, you should start coming to free play.\u2019 And I was like \u2018hmmm, maybe\u2019 and then he was like \u2018well here\u2019s my number. I\u2019ll text you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Since then, the couple has dated and are now engaged.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith us being together, it brought me out more,\u201d Graham said. \u201cMeet more people, made new friends and other connections.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay Sports Club Sport has expanded into six cities in Florida and employs 15 full-time people with 80 part-time employees. They have about 80,000 players a year across their leagues, Giebner said He associates the growth to Gen Zs and Millennials moving away from a drinking culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose generations aren\u2019t drinking as much as Gen X, and my generation,\u201d Giebner said. \u201cMore of those generations are looking for something active to do, and I think our industry and our product is right up that alley.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fray United is headquartered in Washington D.C. and has leagues based out of Jacksonville, Florida, and Phoenix. Neste is the only full-time employee in Arizona and operates as the city commissioner. Sports options are available across the Valley spanning from Avondale, Glendale, Scottsdale and Gilbert.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always have new players joining us, which is so great,\u201d Neste said. \u201cYou meet people that you wouldn\u2019t meet in other areas, like going out to a bar.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phoenix Fray offers two divisions on Sunday nights: a social and an athletic. Athletic includes a higher level of play for a bit more competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to be in the Athletic league,\u201d Sanchez said. \u201cOur team is pretty good but we just can\u2019t seem to win when it comes to the playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody\u2019s always asking when are you guys going to athletic and I\u2019m like \u201cno, we need to win social before we deserve to move up.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The sport still prioritizes socialization and Neste highlighted the access social leagues offer to players who are new to the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way youth sports is going is everyone is specializing,\u201d Neste said. \u201cI think more adults are going to want to try new things because they never got to try it when they were children.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Indian School Park, the athletic and social leagues compete for the first two scheduled hours. By 9 p.m., the teams gather in a circle and count off into new teams that combine the levels of play.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe stay after and we mix the teams up,\u201d Neste said. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot harder to yell at someone during the game if you know them on a personal level, right? So, we encourage them to interact with each other instead of just their own team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Juneteenth marks freedom \u2014 and closures for federal offices, banks, and schools<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Adult social leagues have grown in number and size as more adults turn to them as a way to find community and stay active.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-scottsdale-news"],"yoast_head":"\nSocial sport leagues heating up in Arizona as adults look to connect - Arizona Moving Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=1981\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Social sport leagues heating up in Arizona as adults look to connect - Arizona Moving Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Adult social leagues have grown in number and size as more adults turn to them as a way to find community and stay active.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=1981\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arizona Moving Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-18T22:32:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1981#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1981\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9c272b4cf18e019eb01eb3c1b5d855fb\"},\"headline\":\"Social sport leagues heating up in Arizona as adults look to connect\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-18T22:32:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1981\"},\"wordCount\":976,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1981#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/c89e668b061e910b0852965955675390.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Scottsdale News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1981#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1981\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1981\",\"name\":\"Social sport leagues heating up in Arizona as adults look to connect - Arizona Moving Insider\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1981#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1981#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/c89e668b061e910b0852965955675390.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-18T22:32:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9c272b4cf18e019eb01eb3c1b5d855fb\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1981#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1981\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1981#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/c89e668b061e910b0852965955675390.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/c89e668b061e910b0852965955675390.png\",\"width\":689,\"height\":415},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1981#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Social sport leagues heating up in Arizona as adults look to connect\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arizona Moving Insider\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9c272b4cf18e019eb01eb3c1b5d855fb\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Social sport leagues heating up in Arizona as adults look to connect - Arizona Moving Insider","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=1981","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Social sport leagues heating up in Arizona as adults look to connect - Arizona Moving Insider","og_description":"Adult social leagues have grown in number and size as more adults turn to them as a way to find community and stay active.","og_url":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=1981","og_site_name":"Arizona Moving Insider","article_published_time":"2026-06-18T22:32:21+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=1981#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=1981"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9c272b4cf18e019eb01eb3c1b5d855fb"},"headline":"Social sport leagues heating up in Arizona as adults look to connect","datePublished":"2026-06-18T22:32:21+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=1981"},"wordCount":976,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=1981#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/c89e668b061e910b0852965955675390.png","articleSection":["Scottsdale News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=1981#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=1981","url":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=1981","name":"Social sport leagues heating up in Arizona as adults look to connect - Arizona Moving Insider","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=1981#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=1981#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/c89e668b061e910b0852965955675390.png","datePublished":"2026-06-18T22:32:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9c272b4cf18e019eb01eb3c1b5d855fb"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=1981#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=1981"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=1981#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/c89e668b061e910b0852965955675390.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/c89e668b061e910b0852965955675390.png","width":689,"height":415},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=1981#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Social sport leagues heating up in Arizona as adults look to connect"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/","name":"Arizona Moving Insider","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9c272b4cf18e019eb01eb3c1b5d855fb","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com"],"url":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}