Just in case you’ve not had enough basketball, with March madness ending, you can follow the rainbow to the National Gay Basketball Association’s championships in Las Vegas, Nevada April 23-24. Called the “Coady Roundball Classic” it will bring 36 LGBT and Ally teams from around the Country to compete in the longest running LGBT Basketball tournament in the world.
The National Gay Basketball Association describes itself as an organization founded “with the mission of organizing the LGBT basketball community to be able to speak with one voice in the larger LGBT Sports Community. In 2005, the NGBA was incorporated and granted 501c3 non-profit status to fulfill the mission of bringing the game of basketball to LGBT players across the United States and the world.”
The tournament was held in Chicago for years, but players decided they wanted to move to a new place this year.
Jeff Sanchez, a member of a Utah gay basketball club previously competed in the Gay Games VII in Chicago. Sanchez, who has won a bronze medal before said that such events are good because they bring bout openness that regular events can lack for gays and lesbians.
“I think gay athletes, in general, feel excluded from sports,” he said. “There’s always some part of you that holds back. It’s fun to be able to compete in sports you’re good at without having to worry about your orientation.”
