If you told me that in my 30s I’d be playing in a kickball league every week, I probably would’ve said, “Wait … adults do that?” If you told me I’d find genuine connections and even a girlfriend through that same league, I would’ve thought you were joking. But that’s exactly what happened.
In adulthood, you usually make friends at work, and that gets even harder if you work remotely. Going out to meet new friends in Los Angeles — between the traffic, doomscrolling and the constant flow of people moving in and out of town — can feel out of reach.
Recently, I joined two groups that are built to close that gap by creating events where you can make friends in real life. Here’s what I learned.
I was a ‘free agent’
The Next Fun Thing was founded by Andrea Ramirez with the goal of organizing everything from kickball leagues to speed dating events. Many attendees show up alone, something the group actively encourages.
“We know showing up somewhere alone can feel intimidating, so we try to remove as much uncertainty as possible,” Ramirez told The LA Local. “There’s always a clear flow to the event, clear expectations and built-in ways for people to actually engage instead of standing around wondering what they should be doing.”
According to Ramirez, every event is intentionally designed around connection, such as compatibility prompts at speed-dating events.
I signed up for The Next Fun Thing as a “free agent,” joining a kickball team where I didn’t know a single person. Four seasons later, I’m still playing with that same team.
Somewhere between weekly games and postgame bar meetups, I also met my girlfriend, who happened to play on another team. Ramirez said stories like that aren’t uncommon.
“We’ve had engagements, weddings, long-term relationships and entire friend groups formed,” she said. “[We also] had people finding jobs, creative collaborators, roommates and business partners through our events.”
Becoming ‘the hiking guy’
We Explore Earth was founded by William Vazquez to encourage LA residents to reconnect with nature through hiking, conservation and community care. The organization brings people together through weekly hikes, national park trips and trail cleanups.
“I wanted to create something that made the outdoors feel welcoming, creative and accessible to everyone, especially people who may have never seen themselves represented in traditional outdoor spaces,” Vazquez told The LA Local.
Many participants join with little to no outdoor experience. Before joining the group, Edwin Diaz said he had never visited a national park or even set up a tent. “We Explore Earth taught me how to camp, and I did my first backpacking trip with them,” Diaz said. “Through that experience, I also hiked the second-highest mountain in the continental U.S.”
Now he has become “the hiking guy” within his own friend groups — helping organize outdoor trips and encouraging others to explore spaces that were once unfamiliar to him.
Going beyond the trails
Yvonne Temal, vice president of We Explore Earth, leads Hiking on Purpose, the group’s women-focused hiking program. She told The LA Local that her connection to the organization began because she could rarely find events and clubs where she could feel comfortable as a woman.
“I figured if I was carrying that weight, other women were too,” Temal said. “I wanted to use the outdoors to create a sanctuary — a space where competition stops and genuine encouragement begins.”
Over time, Temal has seen those bonds extend well beyond the trails.
“I’ve seen both women and men connect so deeply with each other that they become lifelong travel buddies, planning major nature expeditions together,” she said. “I’ve watched them co-create projects they were once too intimidated to tackle alone, or find the confidence to branch out and conquer solo adventures they’d been putting off for years.”
Saying ‘yes‘
Looking back at that kickball league, I still think about how close I came to not signing up. I didn’t know anyone, and showing up alone felt like a lot to ask of myself on a weeknight. But I decided to go on a solo mission and see what would happen.
Community rarely happens in one outing. It happens on the fourth Tuesday, at the second postgame beer, when someone remembers your name. For me, it started with checking a box that said “free agent.” But the relationships came from getting off the internet and consistently saying yes to showing up in person.
