Crack out the sweatbands and tighten up the laces on your sneakers.

This weekend the Miss-Lou will go back in time a bit as more than 100 locals revisit the schoolyard game of kickball.

For most of us, this was a rite of passage in elementary school recess.

But on Saturday, the kickball efforts won’t be focused on merely playground bragging rights and prepubescent ego. The kicking will be for a good cause.

The Leadership Natchez class of 2010 and the Council for Recreation have organized the Kick for a Cause kickball tournament as a fundraiser — and awareness-raiser for the Guardian Shelter of Natchez.

The facility provides assistance to domestic violence victims from 11 counties throughout our region.

The Guardian Shelter is certainly a worthy cause.

We applaud, however, the Leadership Natchez class for their continued community involvement.

Last fall, the group was instrumental in helping to promote the vote on recreation in Adams County.

Now, the group has stepped up again in an effort to help out the community. And what’s best about the Kick for a Cause is that the event seeks to most be self-sufficient.

Rather than depend solely on corporate sponsors the event aims at having participants help pay a small amount in exchange for the fun they’ll have at the event.

That’s a win-win for everyone and a reminder that the young leaders in our community are truly capable of taking our community to new heights — one kick at a time.