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Awesome story to say the least. It's stories like these that will help athletes gain the courage to come out of the closet. While not every story will end up like this, it's comforting to know that there are positive reactions.
It's stories like these that have me thinking that maybe I can come out to my co-workers.
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Many more college athletes are out than we even know. Just visited a campus in the Northeast where there is an athlete who is so matter-of-fact about his sexual orientation I was actually quite surprised... He doesn't play a team sport, though, so that might be part of the "everyone is cool with it vibe". And by saying that I don't mean to diminish him as a trailblazer...
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These stories ought to be flooded onto as many discussion boards, etc. as possible to keep hammering home the point that it's not impossible for athletes to come out while still on a team.
In fact, I'd take a prominent spot on the Outsports home page and put a link there saying, "Closeted Pro Athletes: Read These Stories!" I imagine there may be some who check out this site on occasion but don't see these stories once they get buried and archived.
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QUOTE
In fact, I'd take a prominent spot on the Outsports home page and put a link there saying, "Closeted Pro Athletes: Read These Stories!" I imagine there may be some who check out this site on occasion but don't see these stories once they get buried and archived.
Hey JIP: You read our minds. We are going to do just that. A lot of newcomers visit the site and don't realize how many coming out stories we have.
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Hey everyone!
First thank you for your kind words of support. The response has been pretty crazy - lots of e-mails. To answer the above poster's question, I did roller blade a bit before I got into hockey. But I hadn't really been on skates that much prior to the ice. Skating is probably my biggest weakness right now and something I will probably always struggle with since I started playing so late. I tend to be a more technical/strong positional goalie to compensate for not being as quick on my skates.
Oh and UGA has had a team since 1987. We just finished up our 20th season last weekend against the University of South Carolina.
If anybody has any other questions, feel free to post or shoot me an e-mail. I'll do my best to respond to every e-mail I get fairly quickly.
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Joey, Congratulations on coming out and having such a positive reaction. Every time someone like you comes out it makes it easier on gay kids playing sports everywhere. I can appreciate the courage it took, as I am a former ACHA goaltender, and I was certainly nowhere close to coming out when I was in college. I think your story shows that people's assumptions about teammates having negative reactions are perhaps misguided, but then again, everyone already thinks goalies are weirdos . Anyway, congratulations and thank you. I hope everything continues to go well for you and maybe I'll get a chance to shoot at you (I traded in the pads to play forward after college) at a Gay Games some day...
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Joey,
While you intend to become a pilot and pursue Politics, have you considered sticking around with the Atlanta Thrashers organization? Perhaps there's room to move up from within?
You mention that Pasi Nurminen quickly became your idol. Have you had a chance to meet with him, and if so, what was that like and what kind of advice, if any, did he give you to help improve your game?
And one more question, (haha sorry, it's the reporter in me ) how are you doing in terms of starting up that gay hockey team? Have you had a good response yet or is it still in the initial stages?
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Hey, I thought about that, but my position right now would put me on a path to a corporate type job. If I worked for a hockey team, I'd want to be in hockey operations, not the front office.
The only times I've ever talked to Pasi have been when I've gotten autographs. I once asked him a quick equipment question as he was signing a goalie stick. I heard that he was offered a position in the organization as a goalie instructor, but he chose to return home to Finland. If he were to accept that position, then I'd probably have the opportunity to get advice from him. But right now I'm able to get advice from Darren Elliot - a former NHL goaltender and one of my bosses in the organization.
I've yet to contact anyone about the gay hockey team. I figured I'd wait until I'm done with UGA Hockey to go after that since I wouldn't really be able to play during the season.
QUOTE(Enigma @ Feb 24 2007, 02:04 AM)
Joey,
While you intend to become a pilot and pursue Politics, have you considered sticking around with the Atlanta Thrashers organization? Perhaps there's room to move up from within?
You mention that Pasi Nurminen quickly became your idol. Have you had a chance to meet with him, and if so, what was that like and what kind of advice, if any, did he give you to help improve your game?
And one more question, (haha sorry, it's the reporter in me ) how are you doing in terms of starting up that gay hockey team? Have you had a good response yet or is it still in the initial stages?
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This is a great story, and we need to hear more of young people like Joey. It's too bad that most media outlets (gay and straight) devote zero space to stories like this, but plenty for that Tim Hardaway bozo. Good work Outsports! Hopefully stories like these will get read by the people that it will have the most meaning for: young gay people struggling with coming out, and esp. those into sports.
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Joey, I was real happy to see the story about you. It's great that you can be yourself on the team. Maybe the day will come that being gay is as unremarkable as having red hair.
To Outsports, a correction:
"Then in his senior year in high school, he had already missed his opportunity to play organized ice hockey at that level. So, he opted to play for half a semester as a defenseman for a neighboring high school's roller hockey team. It wasn't on the ice where he wanted to be, but it was enough to wet his appetite and drove him to hit the ice when he entered college."
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I, for one, am heartened by this news and I'm glad that Joey had such a positive reaction to his coming out to his team. That isn't always the norm, especially by what I've seen and experienced thus far in sports settings. Who would've guessed that Georgia would be more open-minded than not? Again, I am quite elated over this news!
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Albert Einstein: "Great ideas often receive violent opposition from mediocre minds."
Georgia goalie comes out
Feb 21 2007, 04:57 PM
. Anyway, congratulations and thank you. I hope everything continues to go well for you and maybe I'll get a chance to shoot at you (I traded in the pads to play forward after college) at a Gay Games some day...
