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Who You'll Meet In Sydney
While his brothers and sisters were all athletically inclined and played sports after school, David was more taken by interior design and macramé. “Everyone else knew I was the fag, though Mom couldn’t figure it out.” Being the youngest of six children, in a family of giants, there was always a volleyball or basketball lying around the house. In high school, while bored with making designs in the grass with the lawnmower, David started passing the days away by throwing one of those volleyballs onto the tin roof, and hitting it back up onto the roof when it rolled down; without realizing it, he started honing his volleyball skills. Naturally athletic and six-foot-eight, David was soon recruited by his sister’s high school volleyball team to use in practice: he would block the girls’ shots as they tried to hit the ball past him. Living in the middle of the countryside, he had to wait for his sister to give him a ride home from school anyway, so he figured, what the hell. Years later, living just outside of Appleton, WI, about 30 miles south of Green Bay, a local gay bar added a sand volleyball court in one of the many nearby fields. David and some of his friends started playing regularly there on Sunday afternoons. Soon after, they got wind of a gay volleyball tournament in Madison and decided to register. “We went there thinking everyone else would be Sunday lushes playing volleyball. We were badly mistaken.” What they found instead was a group of men and women who were very serious about their volleyball, and who were talented in their skills. What’s more, they were members of the North American Gay Volleyball Association (NAGVA), which David didn’t even know existed. Suddenly, the entire world of gay sports opened up to him. David, or “Bianca,” as he is known to many on the volleyball circuit, has spent the last eight years playing organized volleyball in Wisconsin, and now with the Lone Star Volleyball Association in Houston. He recently went back to the Midwest for a weekend to play in a volleyball tournament in Minneapolis; his team finished third and David was named to the tournament’s All-Star team. “That was a great honor.” He is now looking forward to attending his first Gay Games this November in Sydney. “It seems a little intimidating, it’s so huge,” David says. “But I think it’s wonderful – the spirit of it is a great thing. And I’ve never been down under.” While he’ll be enjoying the competition of the Games, he’s also looking forward to the social activities surrounding the event. “I don’t have high expectations as far as placing. I want the experience, from the local culture to the camaraderie of an international gay community.” “The hard part will be remembering not to get drunk the night before I play.” But does that mean he’s still a Sunday lush? “It depends on the city.”
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