The Bent Pins
Four members of the Perth-based bowling club WAGL – Ray Currell, Adrian Iley, Laurie Rayner and Aaron Rebelo – made the trek east to compete in the Asia Pacific Outgames as the Bent Pins. The fabulous foursome took home a team silver, while Ray and his partner Adrian also won a bronze in doubles and Adrian grabbed a third medal with a second-place finish in singles.
For Team Perth organizer and veteran bowler Ray Currell, The Bent Pins success in the Outgames medal count was made more thrilling because of the close competition from other regional clubs, most notably the Australien Wimmen and Men’s teams, who took the team gold and bronze, respectively.
The Asia Pacific Outgames was Ray Currell’s seventh time at an international GLBT sporting event. He first attended a World Gay Games in 1990 in Vancouver and made his debut as a competitor in New York City four years later. He’s since been to World Gay Games in Amsterdam, Sydney and Chicago as well as the first ever World Outgames in Montreal in 2006.
So, when Ray called the event organization of the first ever Asia Pacific Outgames ‘fabulous’ and said ‘they could have improved, but not by much’, he had plenty to compare it to.
And indeed the Asia Pacific Outgames not only held its own against the larger global events, it whet the appetite of Ray and the rest of the Bent Pins for the next World Outgames in Copenhagen in 2009.
‘We’ll be over there… I’ll resurrect Team Perth again,’ Ray declared.
GET BOWLED OVER: The WAGL social bowling league meets every Sunday at 11am at Warwick Superbowl. The cost is $20 for 3 games, of which $2.50 goes into a social fund.
Loton Park Tennis Club
Loton Park Tennis Club arrived in force with 11 members registered as competitors, and they returned in glory, having swept the women’s C-grade doubles. Sonya Krishnan and Lisa Cesari won gold; Claire Giles and Bronwyn Coombes, silver; and Michelle Rigg and Kelly Jones, bronze.
While the women often play each other in WA, it was a different experience entirely to compete against one another in Melbourne.
‘One of the highlights of the games was realizing that we were all going to play each other. And the real highlight was that the final was against Claire and Bronny. Claire was my roommate and we stayed up quite late drinking g&t’s, and I don’t think we mentioned tennis once, quite deliberately,’ Sonya told OiP. She continued to say that ‘it was really difficult not having that friendly casual laugh in between games. We were all very tactical and serious.’
That’s not to say that when the tennis was over the girls didn’t have fun.
According to Club President Michelle Rigg, ‘All the girls had a great time eating, drinking and, of course, shopping… With tennis in mind and the thought of winning gold we behaved ourselves; however, we couldn’t pass on the opportunity to visit a couple of the girls-only Midsumma Festival nights – a three storey nightclub full of girls with a show on every floor, that alone was worth the trip!’
On the men’s side Troy Hancock and Geoff younger defeated fellow Loton Parkers Mark Brown and Grant Sutherland in Men’s A-grade Doubles, though both pairs lost to the eventual gold medalists. In the singles competition, Nelson De Sousa made it to the semifinals.
Though the Outgames may be over, Loton Park formed some lasting friendships and have plans for further competition with other Australian gay and lesbian clubs, including the Eastern States lesbian tennis group The Ace Girls who Loton Park will host in the near future.
JOIN THE CLUB: Loton Park Tennis Club, at the corner of Lord and Bulwer St, is currently running a mid-season membership drive. Memberships are available for $195, concessions $165 – with an additional $50 discounted in exchange for helping with social tennis. Social memberships are available for $30. For more information on becoming a member, email enquiries@lotonpark.com.au.
Mark your calendars with these dates! Loton Park will hold a Special General Meeting for its members on March 8th at 5.30pm. On March 15th, the club hosts the Love All music festival as a fundraiser. Then on Easter weekend, Loton Park goes to Bridgetown for the Annual Easter tournament. The club Championship on April 5th and 6th and the Annual Dinner & Awards Presentation on May 3rd. As always, social tennis continues play on Wednesday evenings from 5pm and Saturday afternoons 2-6pm. (Note: Social tennis for the weekend of March 15-16 will be on Sunday, March 16th due to Love All.)
G&L Badminton
The new kids on the rainbow-coloured sporting block in WA, the G&L Badminton Club sent over a small, but strong contingent of four players to Melbourne. While unfortunately one of the doubles teams was unable to compete, Dallas Robertson and Steve Christie held their own in top-level doubles and singles competition.
In men’s doubles, the pair ended up 0-4, as they faced stiff competition against A-level teams in a combined men’s A & B-grade comp. Steve and Dallas played out tight sets, even facing a game point against the eventual silver medalists.
As Dallas tells it, ‘we held a game point against a formidable doubles team, but failed to convert it to a win (my fault – hit one into the net!). That was exciting for us because Steve and I had played only a single game together previously, and we felt our teamwork in the tournament was coming together at the right time. Unfortunately, it didn’t pay off, but we were really excited nevertheless.’
In singles action, Dallas went 1-2 in men’s B-grade singles, and Steve 1-2 in men’s A-grade.
However, competing was only part of the fun for Dallas.
‘Marching into Town Hall to huge applause was thrilling. Competing at the tournament itself was amazing because of the calibre of players – I enjoyed watching the other matches so much I didn’t even get to watch the volleyball next door!… Marching in the Pride parade on the Sunday holding the Western Australia banner was incredible. Heaps of people lining the streets were shouting “Go WA!†I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face.’
BIRDS OF A FEATHER, FLOCK TOGETHER: G&L Badminton meets Wednesday nights 7.30-9.30pm at Alma Venville Recreation Centre in Maylands.
