Sports
Rookies & vets: Federal Triangles
Players of all skill levels find fun in gay league
Scott Teribury, left, and Andy Sylvia on the field. (Photo courtesy Federal Triangles)
This week in the continuing Blade series on the rookies and veterans that make up the LGBT sports teams in the Washington area, we check in with two gay athletes from the Federal Triangles Soccer Club.
The Triangles host the Summer of Freedom League every summer and three tournaments throughout the year. In addition, their players travel to out-of-town tournaments and play in a variety of straight leagues in the area.
Scott Teribury grew up on military bases mostly in northern Virginia and competed in wrestling and soccer. He also ran cross country and track for his high school. During his collegiate years at Christopher Newport University, he played intramural soccer.
After moving to the D.C. area in 2012 to work in consulting, he Googled “gay sports” and found two clubs that interested him, D.C. Front Runners and the Federal Triangles Soccer Club. He ended up going with a friend to a Triangles pick-up game in 2013 and was recruited and put into a league mid-season.
“When I moved to the area I only knew a couple of people,” Teribury says. “The Triangles participate in so many things and the athletes are all so different. I have made many new friends including a best friend.”
Teribury has been competing in the area competitive leagues along with the Summer of Freedom League. He says the veterans are very supportive and are always looking to put new players on their teams. Several of the Triangles players have called Teribury the best rookie player to come along in years.
He has also been traveling with his teammates to tournaments and has played in Cleveland, Provincetown, Rehoboth Beach, Philadelphia and New York.
An ankle injury in October has him sidelined for the time being and he will have surgery in January. The recovery period will be four to six months, but he is already planning his return.
“The International Gay & Lesbian Football Association Worldcup is in Portland in August of 2016,” Teribury says. “I am hoping to be there.”
Andy Sylvia was born and raised on the eastern shore of Maryland and played club soccer up until his high school years. After finishing his degree at Salisbury University he moved to the D.C area for his work in human resources.
In 1998 he was looking for a new social activity and began playing pick-up games with the Triangles and is still playing with some of those same players.
“My first tournament with the Triangles was in Fort Lauderdale and it was great opportunity to bond with my teammates. Soccer has given me a fun group of people to travel with,” Sylvia says. “I have also met people from all over the world and it is a comfortable feeling to compete with those same athletes at the international events.”
Over the past 18 years, Sylvia has played in tournaments in Cologne, Dublin, London, Copenhagen, Sydney, Buenos Aires, Barcelona and Montreal among others. Along with Teribury, he is also planning on being at the Worldcup in Portland next year.
Sylvia says people come and go all the time and depending on the skill level of the rookie player coming in, you sometimes have to remind them that they are playing in a recreational league.
“Putting a team together is more than just throwing 11 people on the field,” Sylvia says. “A rookie player needs to learn how to play with his team and the team needs to learn how to play with him.”
Coming up for Sylvia this next year is the Liberty Bell tournament in Philadelphia, the Summer of Freedom League, the aforementioned Worldcup in Portland and the Rehoboth Beach Classic of which he is one of the founding players.
“Most of the teams I play on now have athletes that are over 30 years old,” Sylvia says. “The skill levels of the rookie players coming in today are much higher than they were before soccer became popular.”
More than 40 openly LGBTQ athletes are expected to compete in the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics that open on Friday.
Outsports.com notes eight Americans — including speedskater Conor McDermott-Mostowy and figure skater Amber Glenn — are among the 44 openly LGBTQ athletes who will compete in the games. The LGBTQ sports website also reports Ellis Lundholm, a mogul skier from Sweden, is the first openly transgender athlete to compete in any Winter Olympics.
“I’ve always been physically capable. That was never a question,” Glenn told Outsports.com. “It was always a mental and competence problem. It was internal battles for so long: when to lean into my strengths and when to work on my weaknesses, when to finally let myself portray the way I am off the ice on the ice. That really started when I came out publicly.”
McDermott-Mostowy is among the six athletes who have benefitted from the Out Athlete Fund, a group that has paid for their Olympics-related training and travel. The other beneficiaries are freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy, speed skater Brittany Bowe, snowboarder Maddy Schaffrick, alpine skier Breezy Johnson, and Paralympic Nordic skier Jake Adicoff.
Out Athlete Fund and Pride House Los Angeles – West Hollywood on Friday will host a free watch party for the opening ceremony.
“When athletes feel seen and accepted, they’re free to focus on their performance, not on hiding who they are,” Haley Caruso, vice president of the Out Athlete Fund’s board of directors, told the Los Angeles Blade.
Four Italian LGBTQ advocacy groups — Arcigay, CIG Arcigay Milano, Milano Pride, and Pride Sport Milano — have organized the games’ Pride House that will be located at the MEET Digital Culture Center in Milan.
Pride House on its website notes it will “host a diverse calendar of events and activities curated by associations, activists, and cultural organizations that share the values of Pride” during the games. These include an opening ceremony party at which Checcoro, Milan’s first LGBTQ chorus, will perform.
ILGA World, which is partnering with Pride House, is the co-sponsor of a Feb. 21 event that will focus on LGBTQ-inclusion in sports. Valentina Petrillo, a trans Paralympian, is among those will participate in a discussion that Simone Alliva, a journalist who writes for the Italian newspaper Domani, will moderate.
“The event explores inclusivity in sport — including amateur levels — with a focus on transgender people, highlighting the role of civil society, lived experiences, and the voices of athletes,” says Milano Pride on its website.
The games will take place against the backdrop of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s decision to ban trans women from competing in women’s sporting events.
President Donald Trump last February issued an executive order that bans trans women and girls from female sports teams in the U.S. A group of Republican lawmakers in response to the directive demanded the International Olympics Committee ban trans athletes from women’s athletic competitions.
The IOC in 2021 adopted its “Framework on Fairness, Inclusion and Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity and Sex Variations” that includes the following provisions:
• 3.1 Eligibility criteria should be established and implemented fairly and in a manner that does not systematically exclude athletes from competition based upon their gender identity, physical appearance and/or sex variations.
• 3.2 Provided they meet eligibility criteria that are consistent with principle 4 (“Fairness”, athletes should be allowed to compete in the category that best aligns with their self-determined gender identity.
• 3.3 Criteria to determine disproportionate competitive advantage may, at times, require testing of an athlete’s performance and physical capacity. However, no athlete should be subject to targeted testing because of, or aimed at determining, their sex, gender identity and/or sex variations.
The 2034 Winter Olympics are scheduled to take place in Salt Lake City. The 2028 Summer Olympics will occur in Los Angeles.
Sports
‘Heated Rivalry’ stars to participate in Olympic torch relay
Games to take place next month in Italy
“Heated Rivalry” stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie will participate in the Olympic torch relay ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics that will take place next month in Italy.
HBO Max, which distributes “Heated Rivalry” in the U.S., made the announcement on Thursday in a press release.
The games will take place in Milan and Cortina from Feb. 6-22. The HBO Max announcement did not specifically say when Williams and Storrie will participate in the torch relay.
The Washington Capitals will host Pride Night on Saturday, Jan. 17, when they host the Florida Panthers at Capital One Arena. A special ticket offer featuring a Pride-themed Capitals rainbow jersey is available at washcaps.com.
Fans are invited to a pre-game Block Party at District E beginning at 5 p.m. The event will feature a performance by the band NovaKane. Specialty happy hour food and beverages will be available, as well as giveaways. There will also be a presence by several local LGBTQ+ community organizations.
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