By John Chen
Now that 2016 is over, we look forward to a new year filled with pitching, catching, pounding, butt patting, fist bumping, swinging, sweating, stroking, panting … wait, what was I writing about? Oh, yes, LGBT sports for 2017! Thanks to a series of atmospheric rivers sending waves and waves of rain storms to Northern California, we are making a major dent in our historic drought. It’s a good thing that most sports are highly adaptable, where die-hards brave the elements and compete in the rain (i.e. rugby and football) and “melt in the rain princess” hacks like me simply move indoors (i.e. volleyball, soccer, water polo, and basketball) to get their sports fix. For this article, I’d like to focus on 1) indoor volleyball and 2) a 2017 LGBT Sports Guide.
One of the most versatile global sports is none other than volleyball, with multiple playing surfaces and player alignments. In the dead of winter, indoor volleyball is the sport of choice for many LGBT athletes here in the Bay Area. With open gyms available virtually every day of the week, there’s no shortage of play. Over President’s Day Weekend (February 18–20, 2017) one of the most historic volleyball groups in the country, South Bay Volleyball Club (blog.SBVBC.org), will host on the peninsula The 29th NorCal Volleyball Classic, a NAGVA (North America Gay Volleyball Association) sanctioned tournament. Teams of all levels and from all over the West Coast and across the country will vie for this coveted championship. Club President Jim Moore tells me that SBVBC will also run an inaugural tournament in Hawaii (!!!) later this year, and will additionally hold several local one-day indoor and outdoor tournaments over the course of 2017. Start practicing your bumps and spikes, boys and girls!
In San Francisco, the Balls of Furry (yes furry, not fury) bear, cub, friends and supporters volleyball group is recruiting players for their upcoming winter/spring league (March–May, 2017). Currently, the only LGBT volleyball league in the Bay Area, Balls of Furry (ballsoffurryvolleyball.org) has become a volleyball enthusiast household name. Co-Presidents Adam Keim and Rich Sucre proudly built one of the largest gay volleyball groups on the West Coast that welcomes beginners to clinics and open gyms, and intermediate to advanced players to the league.
If you would like to join or explore volleyball and other LGBT sports in 2017, I encourage you to look at some of the available LGBT sports groups in the Bay Area (below). It may be wet outside now, but you can still play with balls of all sizes, both smooth and fuzzy!
Basketball
San Francisco Gay Basketball Association (sfgba.com)
Year-round open gym
Fall: league
Bowling
PRIDE Bowling League (Contact Tony Hoey at Anthony.t.hoey@gmail.com)
International Gay Bowling Organization (igbo.org)
Year-round league
Football (Flag)
San Francisco Gay Flag Football League (sfgffl.org)
Aloha Classic tournament (Feb 18–19)
Fall: open play and league
Grappling
Warrior Brothers (Facebook; Contact Michael Fuhrman)
Year-round
Ice Hockey
San Francisco Goaldiggers (Facebook; Contact Don Otvos)
Year-round league
Rugby
San Francisco Fog Rugby Club (sffog.org)
Jan–April: league, practices (Tuesdays and Thursdays)
Monthly: Sunday fundraisers/socials at Pilsner Inn
May: Memorial Day Tournament
Soccer
San Francsico Spikes Soccer Club (Facebook)
Winter: indoor league
Spring: all Spikes indoor tournament
Spring & Summer: outdoor league
Fall: Spikes Folsom weekend tournament
Softball
San Francisco Gay Softball League (sfgfl.org)
Jan 28: player clinicFeb 19: new player evaluation
Mar 5: bowling fundraiser
Spring: league (starts March 12)
Jun 10: Switch Hitters Ball
Silicon Valley Softball League (svsl.org)
Spring, Summer & Fall: league in Sunnyvale
Swimming and Synchronized Swimming
Tsunami Aquatics (sftsunami.org)
Year-round
Tennis
Gay and Lesbian Tennis Federation of San Francisco (gltf.org)
Monthly: social doubles (3rd Friday at Bay Club SF)
Spring: league, beginner’s academy
Memorial Day Weekend: United States Gay Open
Summer: Holleran and Sissenstein Club Championships
July: Bank of the West Classic Pride Night
all: league, Tennis Palooza
Volleyball
Balls of Furry Volleyball (Facebook or ballsoffurryvolleyball.org)
Winter & Spring: league (intermediate-advanced levels)
Fourth of July Weekend: Red, White and Blue Tournament
East Bay – LGBTQA Volleyball (Facebook)
Spring, Summer & Fall: outdoor volleyball in Oakland (Sundays)
Rainbow Recreation (Facebook)
Spring & Summer: outdoor volleyball in Mountain View (Tuesdays)
South Bay Volleyball Club (blog.sbvbc.org; Contact Jim Moore)
Feb 18–19: NorCal Volleyball Classic
Spring, Summer & Fall: clinics, local one-day tournaments in the South Ba
Water Polo
Tsunami Water Polo (tsunamipolo.org)
May: Tsunami de Mayo Tournament
all: Splish Fundraiser
Year-round league
Wrestling
Golden Gate Wrestling (ggwc.org)
Year-round
John Chen, a UCLA alumnus and an avid sports fan, has competed as well as coached tennis, volleyball, softball and football teams.
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