More than 1,100 gay and lesbian athletes arrived in Atlanta last weekend for a holiday full of bowling, softball and soccer tournaments. (Photo by Matt Hennie)
Gay tournaments crowd holiday weekend Bowling, softball, soccer events attract more than 1,100 athletes
A last-minute surge last year provided organizers of the annual Best Ball Scramble Golf Tournament with 68 players, nearly 20 more than they had expected.
It also provided the tournament with its largest field ever and helped raise about $3,000 for the Atlanta Feminist Women’s Chorus, the event’s annual beneficiary.
Eileen Stone, the tournament’s chair and a past president of the chorus, hopes that 70 participants — men and women are welcome — this year will help raise about $5,000 for the chorus, which has canceled concerts, laid off the creative staff and canceled rehearsals over financial struggles.
The event, typically held during the Atlanta Pride Festival, shifted to June 7 when the festival moved to the first weekend in July after being booted from Piedmont Park with other large-scale festivals and sports events.
“It just seemed like doing anything with Pride weekend and the Peachtree Road Race, there was just way too much going on,” Stone said. “July Fourth is a tricky weekend — people may or may not be in town.”
Stone also saw an opportunity to move the event earlier in June as an attempt to avoid the hottest of summer’s blistering days. Though the tournament begins early in the morning, heat has been a concern as the day progresses, she said.
“Last year, by the time everybody got off the golf course, it was pushing 90. I thought moving it up a few weeks might make it a few degrees cooler,” Stone said.
The registration deadline is June 4.
5th Annual Best Ball Scramble Golf Tournament
June 7, 7:30 a.m.
Alfred Tup Holmes Golf Course
Registration is $75 www.afwcchorus.org
WITH CLEAR SKIES and temperatures in the low 80s, Memorial Day Weekend couldn’t have provided a better setting for the gay tournaments taking place in Atlanta.
There were bowlers and softball and soccer players, more than 1,100 of them, spread across four venues, all but one outside Interstate 285.
“We had such a great time last year and went back and told everyone and had twice as many people to come this year,” said Ken Sanchez. “It is a nice way to start the summer and everyone enjoys seeing their friends once a year. The priority is to have a good time.”
Sanchez joined teammates from the New York Ramblers, one of seven teams playing in the Hotlanta Soccer Classic, an annual tournament organized by the Hotlanta Soccer Association. A gay-friendly team from Atlanta, P’cheen, defeated the San Diego Sparks to win the event.
The event moved to the Georgia Soccer Park in East Point after drought restrictions put in place by the city of Atlanta earlier this year banned organized sports from Piedmont Park, the tournament’s home last year.
“The pitches are nice,” said Tito Garcia, a New York Rambler who visited Atlanta for the first time last weekend. “It’s a nice weekend and the weather is nice. I’m having fun.”
TONY JULIAN, WHO traveled from Tampa with teammates from the Sarasota Strokers, spent much of his weekend at the Metro Atlanta Softball Complex in southwest Fulton County. The team was among nearly 40 taking part in the Hotlanta Softball Challenge, the annual tournament from the Hotlanta Softball League.
“The most important thing about playing gay softball is having fun,” Julian said.
Teammate Adam McLaughlin didn’t mind the half-hour drive from their Midtown hotel to the fields. The tournament marked his first time in Atlanta.
“It’s a fun town and there’s lot of stuff to do,” McLaughlin said.
JOHN LOESCH, A bowler from Philadelphia, hadn’t participated in the annual International Gay Bowling Organization tournament for 10 years, when the event was held in Nashville. So, faced with another opportunity for a trip to the South, he joined a group of about 10 friends for the IGBO event in Atlanta last weekend.
“We love it,” Loesch said. “It’s our first time in Atlanta. That’s why we came.”
Loesch was one of about 700 gay and lesbian bowlers at the event, which was hosted by organizers of the annual Dixie Invitational Bowling Tournament in Atlanta. Participants crowded Midtown Bowl and Brunswick Zone in Norcross.
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