Queer sport has recently been flourishing in Perth. There are now more clubs and groups than ever catering to social and competitive sports and covering a wide range of sports including tennis, swimming, touch rugby, hiking, ten-pin bowling, dancing, rock climbing, field hockey and water polo.
Up until recently though, it has often been a challenge to find out what’s available for sporty members of the LGBT community. That couldn’t have been more true with OUTinPerth’s short hiatus last year which left members of the community without a clear means of finding queer-friendly clubs, associations and groups.
This situation inspired local gay sportsman Gary Namestnik to start TeamPerth.info, a website with the goal of “promoting queer sporting and recreation in WA”. Launched in October 2016, the website is well on the way to becoming the hub for queer sport and recreation in WA with a growing list of clubs and groups.
Along with the website there is also a Facebook page, around which Gary hopes to build a vibrant community and inspire the founding of even more clubs.
Team Perth also serves as a platform for celebrating the contributions and successes of our queer sportspeople. A perfect example of this is Simon Thuijs from the Perth Pythons Hockey Club, who was recently recognised by Out for Australia as an LGBTIQ Role Model of the Year for his efforts in founding the Pythons Hockey club, as well as all his work creating the True Colours Project in 2014 to increase LGBTIQ+ visibility.
Gary was also instrumental in the founding of WA’s newest LGBT sports team, the White Pointers water polo team. The club has been training hard and has been invited by the Brisbane Tritons water polo team to compete in a tournament in July against teams from the Eastern States.
If you are interested in joining any of the teams mentioned in this article then head on over to teamperth.info and get on board. If you can’t find what you want, then why not start your own club?
The Team Perth Facebook page is the perfect place for find others who share your passion. It’s never been a better time to get active in WA.
Mike Turner
