Artvoice: Buffalo's #1 Newsweekly
Home Blogs Web Features Calendar Listings Artvoice TV Real Estate Classifieds Contact
Previous story: Farewell Cleveland, It's Been a Great Ride
Next story: Gaywatch Events Calendar

Buffalo Alternative Volleyball

As the Olympics fill television airwaves and Americans are taking interest in all kinds of sports, Buffalo Alternative Volleyball gears up for another exciting season. LGBT and allied friends have been coming together for the last 20 years to play volleyball, connect with friends, and maintain a healthy lifestyle. The group used to play in Delaware Park during the summer months, but there were too many games canceled for bad weather, so the group moved indoors to the Maryvale Community Education Building in Cheektowaga. Now the group is able to play from September through June each year.

The 2008-2009 season starts on Thursday, September 4, with play lasting from 6:30pm to 9:30pm. Cost is $6 each night and the money goes towards renting the gym space. I recently spoke with Ron Degenfelder and Eugene Harvey, the current coordinators, to talk about Buffalo Alternative Volleyball.

BW: How long have you been with the group?

RD: I have been playing volleyball for the past eight years and Eugene has been involved in the group for over 15 years.

BW: What is different about your organization from its straight counterparts?

RD: There are bar leagues for volleyball players in the Buffalo area but usually you have to get a team together and commit for so many weeks. With our league, players just show up, pay $6 and we break up into teams for the night. Our goal is to provide a comfortable, gay friendly place where people that enjoy volleyball can come and play a good game of volleyball. This is definitely an alternative to going out to the gay bars to meet and interact with other gay people. Our group is really here for volleyball players who just happen to be gay.

BW: Who are your members and who is the group open to?

RD: We usually have between 16 to 24 players each week. The gym has two courts to play on and anyone can come and play volleyball. We always say that you don’t have to be gay to play; like I mentioned earlier, our group is for volleyball players…most of them happen to be gay.

EH: Besides people of all sexual orientations, we have many people with different cultural, ethnic, and racial backgrounds too. This is another one of our inherent strengths. We try to create a place for everyone regardless of their background. Also, we’ve had people come from many different geographic areas in Western New York, including Niagara Falls, the Southtowns, Fredonia, and even the Southern Tier.

BW: What skill level do your players have, and is coaching available?

RD: We have all levels of playing abilities. We have players who just played volleyball in gym class to people who have played on college teams. We hope that people who come know at least the basics of volleyball, like passing the ball, setting and hitting the ball. We definitely emphasize the three-hit rule on each side of the net. That’s where the phrase “bump, set, spike” comes from. Usually backyard volleyball games consist of one person just hitting the ball over the net every time. We call that “bam” ball.

BW: Anything else you would like to add?

RD: Can you dig it? Volleyball players will know what this means.

For more information, check us out at buffalovolleyball.googlepages.com or email buffalovolleyball@gmail.com.

blog comments powered by Disqus