Sports
Nice and rough
Renegades have squads for competitive and recreational rugby
The Washington Renegades at last year’s pride. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
Washington is home to the Washington Renegades, a Division III rugby union football club. They are members of the Potomac Rugby Union and USA Rugby.
Established in 1998 by Mark Hertzog, the Renegades were the first men’s rugby club in the United States to actively recruit gay men and men of color. Its mission is to learn, teach and play rugby along with forging new friendships, celebrating differences and giving back to the community.
The current member base of the Renegades (dcrugby.com) is around 45 players with an age range from 20s to 50s. Members have two seasons and the group is divided into two squads.
The fall season runs from August to November and consists of league matches within the Potomac Rugby Union. The Reds squad is their developmental team and plays matches within the league on an exhibition basis.
The Blues squad is the competitive squad whose players compete for a chance to advance from the Potomac Rugby Union to the regional championships within the Mid Atlantic Rugby Union. From there, winners can advance to the USA Rugby national championships which are contested in May each year.
The spring season consists of friendly matches within the International Gay Rugby Association and Board. This group sponsors the Bingham Cup which is held every two years and is named for Mark Bingham.
Bingham was a former Association rugby player from California and a passenger on the 9-11 United Airlines Flight 93 which crashed near Shanksville, Pa., as those aboard tried to take control of the aircraft from the hijackers. Many experts believe the aircraft was headed for impact at the Capitol Building or the White House.
The Renegades feel a special connection with Bingham who had participated in tournaments that they had hosted in D.C. They have competed in every Bingham Cup since its inception with the next tournament being held in Sydney, Australia in 2014.
The Renegades frequently travel and have played tournaments in such varied places as New York, Dublin, Charlotte, San Francisco and Manchester. The Renegades Reds squad is the two time defending champions of Hellfest in Dallas.
“There is a false stereotype in the sport of Rugby,” says Renegades President Ned Kieloch. “Most people believe that all rugby players are big and burly. The best teams consist of players of all shapes and sizes.”
The Renegades do their recruiting of various sized players through events at sports bars and gyms as well as through Team D.C.’s Sportsfest.
To groom new players, the Renegades offer Rugby 101 clinics, skills clinics and one-on-one coaching to develop player skills.
“Some of the rookies we have recruited have gone on to become real contributors on our competitive squads,” Kieloch says.
The Renegades have a long and varied history of giving back to the community. In past years they have been involved in things such as toy drives, food drives, 9-11 fundraisers and skills clinics for kids.
“The mix of straight and gay players on the Renegades squad has resulted in our straight players being wonderful advocates for the LGBT community,” Kieloch says. “Together, we build bridges.”
The spring season for the Renegades will kick off with practice at Cardozo High School on Tuesday.
The first tournament of the season will be on March 23 in New York City as they compete in the Four Leaf 15s Tournament. The event will draw about 1,500 players from overseas and domestically.
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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