Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (April 1, 2011)
OREGON'S LGBTO NEWSMAGAZINE school team or think a sweeper is someone who cleans the floors,” according to Wong. The NetRippers’ annual summer tournament is tentatively scheduled for July 1-3, with a loca tion to be determined. The highlight of the season for the club, the summer tournament is a weekend-long engagement with social events bookending competitive play. Wong says the board is working on this year’s tournament be ing a fundraiser for a local nonprofit in the LGBTQcommunity. “Every year our tournament gets bigger, and feedback from participants tells us that ours is one of the best and most fun tournaments they go to,” says Wong. “We are becoming more in volved in giving back to our community through various efforts.” NetRippers currently has coed and men’s teams playing at Portland Indoor Soccer (418 SE Main St.) and Soccerplex (8785 SW Bea- verton-Hillsdale Highway), plus outdoor men’s, women’s and coed teams. Rain or shine, the club plays year-round. “I’ve developed many great friendships and I always look forward to practice and games,” says Wong. “I know I have such welcoming friends and friends-to-be ready to have fun and play some soccer.” Alliances (GSAs) and K-12 athletic depart ments alike will work together to fill the gap in terms of tools and resources to address ho mophobia and transphobia in sports and physi cal education. “In working with students in local high schools and talking with students at Gay- Straight Alliances, students who participate in sports programs are much more closeted than the mainstream students,” says Brown. “Ho mophobic attitudes among coaches, teammates and peer leaders, and just the general anxiety around the impact that coming out would have on team attitudes and cohesion are all reasons that LGBT youth might not come out to team mates in high school or even college. The new initiative by GLSEN hopes to help start a con versation about how to change those attitudes.” Vancouver, Wash, high school student Brad Usselman, who, along with cross-country friends Benjamin Newcomer and Robert Scott, created a blog in December 2010 detailing their lives as — sports— Interested in join in g up w ith the NetRippers Football Club? To j i n d out when scheduled prac tices or games w ill be held\ as w ell as membership information, visit netrippers.org. — R yan J. P rado Rolling Thunder Rose City dominates the derby scene APRIL 1. 2011 ment aspect, the action is all real.” Roller derby bouts are divided into two- minute “jams,” during which one player (the “jammer”) tries to push through the other team’s “blockers" to score points. Bouts consist of two 30-minute periods. W hile roller derby may not be W W E on skates, it’s still physically and mentally de manding. As such, the sport attracts a host of tough ladies, many of them queer. “I think queer women are drawn to derby for a lot of reasons,” McClane, a member of the Guns N Rollers, says. “For one, it is a very open and accepting environment, full of women from all walks of life and different backgrounds, and yet there is a real sense of community. It is a sport where women come first and are valued for being fast, strong and aggressive. It’s also a sport where women of any body type can play and be an asset to their team. I think another factor is that derby is outside of the mainstream and has a kind of ‘underground’ feel, which I think appeals to a lot of queer people whose lives may be outside of the mainstream in many ways.” Roller derby may have started as a scripted form of entertainment, but it has reemerged in the last 10 years as a serious sport with an equally dedicated Portland following. The Rose City Rollers is the largest roller derby league in the world, with 11 competitive teams (including junior and senior leagues), a training program (Fresh Meat) for aspiring competitive team members and a recreational team for those who just want to have fun. “It is a common misconception that we fight or throw punches and elbows on the track. Some may remember the version of roller derby televised in the 1960s and 1970s with its staged fights for the entertainment of spectators,” says For more on the Rose C ity Rollers, v isit rosecity- 28-year-old Christine McClane (aka Roller rollers.com or catch them in action A p ril 2 3 a t the Eclipse), “but today’s roller derby is a legitimate M em orial Coliseum (3 0 0 N. W inning Way). sport, and though there is still an entertain — E rin R ook teenaged gay athletes, agrees that the program will help usher in new perspectives on ho mophobia and transphobia in sports. “Programs like this can drastically change the school climate,” explains Usselman. “It goes di rectly to a clique that is stereotyped as being homophobic, and to change that stereotype would allow more LGBT students the opportu nity to feel accepted as well as comfortable.” Usselman says his Skyview High School track team has been nothing but accepting to ward him since he’s come out and that he hasn’t felt excluded in any way—a positive sign that things may be getting better already. The expo sure given Usselman’s blog, “Walking the Road: One Common Goal,” along with the rise in the number of GSAs in public schools has certainly been a factor in combating bullying in schools. Still, as Presgraves reminds, nearly 9 out o f 10 LGBTQ^ students experience harassment in school each year. W hen asked what locations on campus they felt most unsafe, the most common answer was the locker room or ath letic field. The GLSEN Sports Project website features basic game plans for coaches, parents, athletic directors and students, and Presgraves says the word is spreading quickly. Pat Griffin, the proj ect’s coordinator, has been at the forefront of addressing homophobia and transphobia in sports for years. Presgraves says Griffin has al ready attended two school athletics-related conferences to promote the project and support educators and coaches who are interested in utilizing GLSEN ’s resources. “We are confident,” says Presgraves, “that now is the time when we really can change the game.” For more information on how your school can help implement initiatives through Changing the Game: The G L S E N Sports Project, v isit sport. glsen.org. To read Brad Usselmans blog, visit bradrobertben. wordpress. com. i------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -ÜOTv/DO l)OU S £ £ ? Generation Accounting Inc. • Tax Return Preparation • Licensed Tax Consultant • Enrolled Agent Recum bent Bikes & Trikes Folding Bikes...and More! ★ We service all bicycles ★ Mon-Sat 1-6 (Thur 10-7), Sun 1-5 • Full Service Bookkeeping • Accounting • Payroll Susan G. Robertson, L.T.C., E.A. Closed on Wednesdsys 2025 SE Hawthorne ( 5 0 3 ) 230-7723 w w w .coventrycycle.com 1804 NE 43rd Ave., Portland, OR 97213 (503) 282-7247 • Fax (503) 282-7406 FREE UPGRADE WORTH UP TO $130 Vicion 162 .com for details 360.944.1911 u b h ip . c o m 16 years young, locally owned, modern & moving forward. “There really is no place like hip.” 21
