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Serving up Charm

Baltimore volleyball league attracts diverse players

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Charm City Volleyball, gay news, Washington Blade

From left are Adam Bocek, Kent Hansen and Carl Svagerko. (Photos by Kevin Majoros)

It’s not uncommon for the players in sports teams to come from different walks of life. Their motivation to play and the path they take to get there are all part of the process of making a team. The different personalities on the team are what make it a community.

This week in the continuing Blade series on the players who make up the LGBT-based sports teams in the area, we take a look at three teammates, two gay and one straight, from Charm City Volleyball.

Charm City Volleyball hosts social play in downtown Baltimore on Wednesday nights and competitive play and scrimmages on Sundays in Elkridge, Md. On April 29-30, they will host the 32nd annual Charm City Invitational which already has 42 teams registered to play.

For 13 years, Adam Bocek drove back and forth, twice a week, from his hometown in Railroad, Pa., to Baltimore just to play with Charm City Volleyball.

“Growing up in rural Pennsylvania, there just wasn’t much to do if you were gay,” Bocek says. “I began meeting a lot of great guys in an atmosphere where I could be myself.”

As a youth, his primary sport was soccer and along the way he picked up baseball and volleyball. The volleyball continued in college and would be the impetus for his treks to Baltimore.

Bocek has traveled the country with his teammates playing in tournaments and picked up a silver medal with them at the 2014 Gay Games in Cleveland. Just last month he moved to Baltimore after landing a job as a recruiter for HIV research at Johns Hopkins.

“I look at this move as a rite of passage and my opportunity to be around the people who have supported me all along.” Bocek says. “I just love playing this sport and the community that comes along with it.”

After following some friends to move to Baltimore, Kent Hansen was at the Baltimore Pride parade in 2005 and saw Charm City Volleyball marching and hitting a ball around.

“I actually signed up to play that same day,” Hansen says. “One of the people I met on the team is now my husband.”

Hansen, who works as a recruiting manager for a government contracting firm, grew up in Bradner, Ohio and played multiple sports including cross country, track and field, basketball and wrestling. During college at Bowling Green State University he was a varsity cheerleader and also started playing club volleyball.

For six years, he has served as the tournament director of the Charm City Invitational and he is in his fourth year of serving on the national board of the North American Gay Volleyball Association.

He is also traveling the country with his teammates for volleyball tournaments along with traveling for tournaments with the Charm City Kings and Queens bowling league. Hansen and his husband Mike Snyder were also part of the silver medal-winning team at the 2014 Gay Games in Cleveland.

“I have met some amazing people and some of my best friends in the volleyball community,” Hansen says. “Every city we travel to we see so many people that we have known for years. I love the competition and the camaraderie.”

Carl Svagerko was happily playing his sports of football, basketball and baseball along with swimming on a summer team while growing up in Westerville, Ohio. That all changed when he joined his high school swim team because his sister needed a ride to the same practices. He fell in love with swimming and went on to win a state championship in high school and spent four years swimming for the University of Tennessee.

After moving to Baltimore to work as a structural engineer in 2014, Svagerko started playing beach volleyball at Rash Field in Baltimore Inner Harbor. He enjoyed it so much that he moved indoors to the Volleyball House. He eventually ended up on a Charm City Volleyball team as they were playing at the same facility.

“Volleyball was a new sport for me and it was filling the void of not swimming,” says Svagerko, who is straight. “I kind of just started showing up to play with them, then waded in and went full immersion.”

Svagerko has since played in his first association tournament which was hosted by the D.C. Capital Pride Volleyball League. In May, he will travel with his teammates to Columbus for the North American Gay Volleyball Association Championships XXXV.

“I was new to the area and new to the community and everyone with Charm City Volleyball was friendly, inclusive and offered me help with my volleyball form,” Svagerko says. “There is so much respect that I don’t see the sexual orientation. And you know what? They continually ask me to keep playing.”

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Former UMD basketball player Abby Meyers discusses lesbians in sports, March Madness

Potomac native signed with the London Lions last August

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Abby Meyers (Photo courtesy of Abby Meyers)

Star basketball player Abby Meyers signed with the London Lions last August, but she called Maryland home before calling the shots in London.

Meyers, a lesbian shooting guard, grew up in Potomac and graduated from Walt Whitman High School in 2017. She played for Princeton in her undergraduate years and played for the University of Maryland during graduate school.

She began playing basketball in elementary school, and she was already showing an abundance of potential by the time she was in high school.

In her freshman year of high school, the school’s basketball coach sat down with Meyers and her family and showed them a list of universities with Division I basketball teams. Meyers circled the names of the schools that she was interested in attending. From there, the doors leading to a collegiate basketball career began to open. She began working towards her dream and ended up playing for Princeton.

“It was kind of like a mutual understanding between the two of us, me and basketball,” Meyers told the Washington Blade. “I took more individual lessons, and I just realized that the potential was sky high.”

She came back to her home state to attend the University of Maryland not only for its business program but also for its celebrated basketball team.

“I grew up watching Alyssa Thomas, Shatori Walker-Kimbrough and so many other legends that passed through that program,” Meyers said. “So for me, I knew that basketball-wise, it was the best decision I could make. … They definitely had all of the qualities to make me the best player I could be.”

Before shipping off to London, Meyers briefly played in the WNBA for the Washington Mystics in the summer of 2023. In fact, the aforementioned UMD alum Shatori Walker-Kimbrough was one of her teammates.

She described her time with the WNBA and in London so far as a “learning experience.” 

“I got to relearn what it meant to be a rookie again,” Meyers said. “All of a sudden you enter a new team, a new level and you’re at the bottom, and you just have to let your actions speak louder than your words.”

Meyers publicly came out around 2019, and since then she has been a role model for many other lesbian women in sports.

“By coming out I’m actually being my authentic self, but I was scared that people were going to judge me and look at me differently when in fact, I was met with open arms, love, and appreciation,” Meyers said.

Meyers believes the journey one takes to coming out is an individual process that looks different for everyone.

“At the end of the day, it’s your own race; run it at your own pace,” Meyers said.  “Never be apologetic for who you are. When you have to start compromising yourself and your values for other people like though that’s not the community you want to be a part of.”

She has not experienced much anti-LGBTQ stigma since coming out, but that does not mean that it does not exist in other sports communities. However, in this modern social climate, Meyers pointed out, people are much more accepting of gay women in sports.

Nina Hazra, a University of Maryland medical student, grew up playing basketball with Meyers. The two were on the same team in middle school, but they went to different high schools and would often play against each other. 

Hazra did not play much past high school, but she remained close friends with her former teammate and rival to this day. She went to most of the home games during Meyers’ stint at UMD.

Though Hazra does not identify with the LGBTQ community, she noticed a tension in the sports world that affects all women, regardless of sexuality. However, with today’s shifting climate, it has become easier for female athletes to express their identities

“Women who express strong emotions in sports are often treated differently than men who do the exact same thing,” Hazra said in an interview. “I feel like as we’ve gotten older, there’s been a lot more celebration of womanhood in whatever form in sports, and I think that’s one of the places where you can then kind of go outside those societal norms.”

But Hazra still noticed the impact Meyers had on younger generations in sports who may be struggling with their identities.

“It doesn’t matter your sexuality, your gender identity, all that stuff. That doesn’t matter when you’re playing a sport,” Hazra said. “A lot of us didn’t have role models in those years growing up and just to get to see her being that for so many girls is so amazing.”

Elisa Pinzan, also a former Terrapin, is good friends with Meyers. 

Originally from Italy, Pinzan played for the University of South Florida for four years before entering the transfer portal and landing at UMD. She now plays for Keflavik IF in Iceland.

Pinzan and Meyers formed a strong bond while playing for the Terrapins together. 

“She was the first person I got close to; she is very open, smiley and friendly, and I felt comfortable around her from the first day,” Pinzan described. “I am glad to have met someone like Abby, with such a kind soul.”

Pinzan thought that fans should keep their eyes peeled for the Terrapins this upcoming March Madness season. 

“They are a very young team with energy, enthusiasm and grit on the floor, and I think they are a lot better than the record they have,” Pinzan wrote about the Terrapins in an interview. “Despite being young though, they are learning a lot every game and I am sure they will be able to transfer these lessons for the best time of the year coming up.”

Meyers agreed that there is a lot to look forward to this March Madness. She said that with Coach Brenda Frese’s game plans and strong assistant staff, the Terrapins have a strong chance of advancing throughout the competition.

According to Meyers, March Madness will be different for women’s basketball this year, pointing out that it’s more popular right now than men’s games, as women’s basketball is selling out arenas.

“I only think it’s gonna get better and it’s going to grow even more,” Meyers said. “Just the marketing, the social media, the overall awareness of the women’s game. Fans are growing by the number.”

Meyers believes that female basketball players have to rely more on their skill than their athleticism, which she believes makes women’s games just as — if not more — exciting than men’s games. She said that over the past few years, there has been a strong shift in women’s viewership that has shrunk the gap between men’s and women’s basketball, including from a technical standpoint, given that men and women play with the same level of equipment.

Regardless of where UMD ends up this March Madness, Meyers will be cheering the Terrapins on from across the pond — especially the women.

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Banned trans golfer Hailey Davidson: ‘Hate and bigotry will never win’

NXXT mandates players must be ‘biological female at birth’

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Hailey Davidson on Good Morning Britain. (Good Morning Britain YouTube screenshot)

Transgender pro golfer Hailey Davidson is pushing back against a policy change announced Friday by the Florida-based mini-tour, NXXT. From now on, competitors must be “a biological female at birth” in order to participate. 

“Effective immediately, I have been removed (banned) from the next three NXXT tournaments that I had already signed up for and been approved to play,” said Davidson in a post on Instagram. “They changed their policy mid season, after signing me up already and being 2nd in the Player of the Year race.” 

The three-time winner from Scotland has played nine times on the tour this season.

According to a statement by the tour’s CEO, Stuart McKinnon, the change underscores the organization’s commitment to “maintaining the integrity of women’s professional golf and ensuring fair competition.” NXXT Golf issued that statement on International Women’s Day.

“As we navigate through the evolving landscape of sports, it is crucial to uphold the competitive integrity that is the cornerstone of women’s sports,” said McKinnon in the statement. “Our revised policy is a reflection of our unwavering commitment to celebrating and protecting the achievements and opportunities of female athletes. Protected categories are a fundamental aspect of sports at all levels and it is essential for our Tour to uphold these categories for biological females, ensuring a level playing field.”

Davidson said the policy change in her social media post was discrimination, adding that the decision denigrates cisgender female athletes as well as trans athletes. 

“You know what really bugs me is that people think I win just by showing up,” she wrote. “This is such a slap in the face to ALL female athletes being told that any male can transition and beat them regardless of the life of hard work those women put in.

“You think you’re attacking me, but you’re actually attacking and putting down ALL other female athletes.”

She concluded with a vow: “You can scream at me, threaten me, throw insults at me, and even ban me BUT I will ALWAYS get back up and keep fighting to the very end. Hate and bigotry will never win.”

Davidson also posted a message for the women she had planned to compete against: “I hope those NXXT players who are now in the top five are still able to earn those Epson Tour exemptions they were promised and continue to be reminded of in the previous couple of tournaments.” 

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Gay figure skater Colin Grafton shares his story and his dream

Boston native is contestant on British television’s ‘Dancing On Ice’

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Colin Grafton (Photo courtesy of Grafton's Instagram page)

For a second year, Boston native and professional figure skater Colin Grafton is carving up the ice on British television’s “Dancing On Ice,” and now he’s doing it as his authentic self. 

“I told my closest friends. I told the people around me and I eventually told my parents,” Grafton, 32, recalled in an interview with PinkNews, in which he discussed coming out as gay. “I was maybe 24 when all that happened. I know there’s a lot of curiosity about my sexual orientation and my love life, but I never actually came out to the public,” said ITV personality. 

“I guess this is me announcing it to you guys.”

Grafton, who has been skating since he was 7, reflected on how watching Tara Lipinski win an Olympic gold medal at the 1998 Winter Games inspired him to pursue this career. But being a male figure skater was “really tough” in the 1990s and 2000s, he told PinkNewsUK.

“I remember feeling so nervous at various points in my childhood,” said Grafton. ”I’d be skating and the hockey players would come and bang on the side of the rink and shout words. That was something all male skaters had to deal with back then. It wasn’t easy but all of it made me stronger because I took it and focused everything on my sport.”

Grafton’s focus catapulted him to competing for Team USA, winning a bronze medal at the Junior U.S. championships in 2012, with his former partner Kylie Duarte. The memory of those who taunted him only fueled him to work harder. 

“When somebody tells you, you can’t do something, or somebody makes fun of you, just prove them wrong.”

Grafton ended his competitive career in 2013 and transitioned to professional skating, leading several European tours, and even becoming a coach. Then came the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I feel very fortunate about the fact that I’ve been able to kind of dabble in so many different areas in the professional world, but tour life is quite hard, all the travel and being away for so long,” he said. “So, when ‘Dancing on Ice’ came up, I jumped on it.” That was in 2023. 

The program is broadcast Sunday nights on ITV’s Channel 3 from studios in Bovingdon, a village in Hertfordshire about an hour northwest of London. During that first season, Grafton made history being paired with “RuPaul Drag Race” star The Vivienne, the first drag performer on the show and the first time “Dancing On Ice” featured a same-sex team. They made it all the way to the finals, finishing in third place.

“Being a part of that representation, being a part of that team, it was just wonderful,” he said. “The support we got from everyone was just fantastic. If I’m honest, I didn’t really understand the impact that it would make in the end.”

And at the conclusion of last season, Grafton finally found time to read the many messages of encouragement from fans, as well as from viewers who wrote, “Seeing us helped them and gave them the courage to either come out or be themselves,” he said. “It was truly something.”

And now, as a regular on the show’s 16th season, Grafton has decided he wants everyone to know who he really is, and in doing so, show others they are not alone. 

“If I’m honest, I never really felt the need to announce it before, but the reason I am saying this now, is because I want to show that there is representation in any way I can”, the TV personality explains.

Along the way to self-acceptance, Grafton revealed he had a lot of “small steps and small triumphs” leading him to finally feel comfortable being himself in the public eye. “It was on my own terms,” he said, and feels “blessed” to have found support among friends. 

“It’s been a long journey but now I am proud of myself and I’m proud of my sexual orientation and I want to let other people know that they should be proud of every part of themselves too,” said Grafton, acknowledging he had concerns about coming out publicly. “I was really nervous of doing that to myself. It was like, ‘OK, if I come out as gay then people are going to think I’m this or that,’ when in reality the human sexuality spectrum is so vast and it’s just one small part of the person you are.”

But appearing in primetime on such a popular TV show means that Grafton is the target of speculation about his personal life. He admits to having “lived and breathed skating” until finally getting in a relationship at age 24, around the same time he decided to come out to friends and family.

While that lasted two and a half years, Grafton’s frequent travel commitments and work on the ice left him no other chance for love. “I just didn’t really have an opportunity,” he said. “You might meet someone while you’re on a contract for six months and after that, you’re both off in different directions, so, I wasn’t really able to hold down a relationship because of that.”

But now that London is his home, Grafton told PinkNewsUK he feels ready to settle down. His perfect match? Someone local and appreciative of his business obligations. 

“We live really crazy fast-paced lives as skaters,” he said. “Personally, I want to meet someone who is also fast-paced and able to keep up with that, but they don’t have to be a fellow skater. I just want someone who supports me and I can support them, too.”

“At the end of the day, we’re all just humans doing our thing on this planet and trying to find love.”

Until he does, Grafton said he is excited to keep skating on television.

“I absolutely love ‘Dancing on Ice.’ Every season that I’m asked to do it, I feel like I’m blessed and I feel very lucky to be able to keep doing the show. I would love to continue doing it while I can or while my body allows me to as well,” he said. And when it doesn’t? Grafton imagines he might try his hand at acting. 

“I think that’s what life is all about,” he said. “Learning new things and pushing yourself to do other things.”

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