Sports
‘Like music to my ears’
Games-bound Tennis lover recovering from spring injury
Trial lawyer Matt Feinberg says playing tennis puts him ‘in the zone.’ (Washington Blade photo by Kevin Majoros)
Back in May, Matt Feinberg was sitting at a red light watching some break dancers on the side of the road. He started moving along with them in the seat of his car and — bam! — he was hit from behind by someone going 35 miles per hour.
The crash left him with a sprained back, sprained knees and sprained shoulders. At that point, his chances of competing in tennis at the 2014 Gay Games in Cleveland in August were pretty slim.
After many weeks of physical therapy and playing at two tennis tournaments in July, the Philadelphia Open and the Liberty Open in Flushing, N.Y., Feinberg decided to make the trek to Cleveland.
“I was not sure I would be match tough by August,” he says. “This past week I decided I was ready enough to compete in the Gay Games.”
Feinberg was 11 years old and growing up in Charleston, W.Va., when he watched on television as Jennifer Capriati won the gold medal in tennis at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
He immediately began hitting tennis balls on a daily basis against the garage door at his parents’ house. After breaking about 10 windows, his mother insisted that his tennis career should move to a brick wall with no windows.
“I was completely obsessed,” Feinberg says. “I created entire tournaments in my head and even had a ranking.”
He did end up playing in real tournaments in the National Junior Tennis League from ages 13-15. In high school he turned his attentions to competitive swimming and cross country running.
After graduating from the University of Virginia and moving to Boston, Baltimore and finally Washington in 2008, he Googled “gay tennis” and discovered the Capital Tennis Association.
Now 32 and happily committed to tennis again, Feinberg serves as the tournament director of the Association’s annual tournament, the Capital Classic. In Cleveland, he’ll compete in singles and doubles and his training leading up to the Games has consisted of tennis and Focus T25 Workouts.
Among the things that Feinberg loves about tennis are playing in the Gay & Lesbian Tennis Alliance tournaments, traveling and meeting great friends.
“I am very competitive and just like with my work as a trial lawyer, I like to win,” he says. “I love being out on the court when it is just me and I am in the zone. There is nothing like the sound of a ball when it comes off the strings of my racquet. It’s like music to my ears.”
Though he has competed on the world stage in the Alliance Championships in Berlin, this will be Feinberg’s first Gay Games and he is happy for the opportunity.
“I am looking forward to competing in a tournament with people from all over the world,” he says. “And I am hoping to expand my circle of tennis acquaintances.”
Next week in Cleveland, he’ll definitely have his eyes on the ball instead of the local break dancers.
More than a dozen LGBTQ athletes won medals at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics that ended on Sunday.
Cayla Barnes, Hilary Knight, and Alex Carpenter are LGBTQ members of the U.S. women’s hockey team that won a gold medal after they defeated Canada in overtime. Knight the day before the Feb. 19 match proposed to her girlfriend, Brittany Bowe, an Olympic speed skater.
French ice dancer Guillaume Cizeron, who is gay, and his partner Laurence Fournier Beaudry won gold. American alpine skier Breezy Johnson, who is bisexual, won gold in the women’s downhill. Amber Glenn, who identifies as bisexual and pansexual, was part of the American figure skating team that won gold in the team event.
Swiss freestyle skier Mathilde Gremaud, who is in a relationship with Vali Höll, an Austrian mountain biker, won gold in women’s freeski slopestyle.
Bruce Mouat, who is the captain of the British curling team that won a silver medal, is gay. Six members of the Canadian women’s hockey team — Emily Clark, Erin Ambrose, Emerance Maschmeyer, Brianne Jenner, Laura Stacey, and Marie-Philip Poulin — that won silver are LGBTQ.
Swedish freestyle skier Sandra Naeslund, who is a lesbian, won a bronze medal in ski cross.
Belgian speed skater Tineke den Dulk, who is bisexual, was part of her country’s mixed 2000-meter relay that won bronze. Canadian ice dancer Paul Poirier, who is gay, and his partner, Piper Gilles, won bronze.
Laura Zimmermann, who is queer, is a member of the Swiss women’s hockey team that won bronze when they defeated Sweden.
Outsports.com notes all of the LGBTQ Olympians who competed at the games and who medaled.
Sports
US wins Olympic gold medal in women’s hockey
Team captain Hilary Knight proposed to girlfriend on Wednesday
The U.S. women’s hockey team on Thursday won a gold medal at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
Team USA defeated Canada 2-1 in overtime. The game took place a day after Team USA captain Hilary Knight proposed to her girlfriend, Brittany Bowe, an Olympic speed skater.
Cayla Barnes and Alex Carpenter — Knight’s teammates — are also LGBTQ. They are among the more than 40 openly LGBTQ athletes who are competing in the games.
The Olympics will end on Sunday.
Sports
Attitude! French ice dancers nail ‘Vogue’ routine
Cizeron and Fournier Beaudry strike a pose in memorable Olympics performance
Madonna’s presence is being felt at the Olympic Games in Italy.
Guillaume Cizeron and his rhythm ice dancing partner Laurence Fournier Beaudry of France performed a flawless skate to Madonna’s “Vogue” and “Rescue Me” on Monday.
The duo scored an impressive 90.18 for their effort, the best score of the night.
“We’ve been working hard the whole season to get over 90, so it was nice to see the score on the screen,” Fournier Beaudry told Olympics.com. “But first of all, just coming out off the ice, we were very happy about what we delivered and the pleasure we had out there. With the energy of the crowd, it was really amazing.”
Watch the routine on YouTube here.
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