Tammye Nash | Managing Editor
North Texas’ LGBT community has long been known for being one of the most active and well-organized LGBT communities in the nation. That extends to the LGBT sports scene here in Metroplex too.
There’s volleyball, softball, rugby, rodeo, swimming — and North Texans have claimed championships in all of them.
Now we can add kickball to the list.
Keith London, who is in the process of moving to Austin, is starting up America’s Finest Kickball League, with teams forming in Dallas, Austin, Houston, Las Vegas and — soon — Boston. So far, he said, “Everybody is loving it.”
London said he is the Dallas and Austin commissioner. He said he will be in Austin for games on Saturday, then head to Dallas for games on Sunday. “I love Texas,” he said, explaining why he decided to move to the Lone Star State. “And I love kickball. Texas didn’t already have an LGBT kickball league, so I decided to move there and get it started.”
“We’re excited to be adding our league to the outstanding gay sports network that already exists there,” London said, noting that he was in Dallas recently to stage a “pick-up game” to introduce the new league here.
“We had a great turnout for that first pick-up game,” he said. “We had about 50 people who came out and played with us. The idea was to teach people the rules and give them a chance to try it out for free before the season starts.
“Kickball really is a sport for everyone,” London added. “Everybody had a great time.”
London said he already has about 12 coaches in Dallas who want to put together kickball teams for this inaugural season, and he hopes to see more. Each team, he added, needs to have between 12 and 20 players, and usually there are about 16 on a team roster.
Anyone who wants to play can visit GayKickball.com, choose Dallas from the list of cities and register online. Cost is $80 per person, plus a $2.50 processing fee.
Coaches can register whole teams at once, small groups looking for others to make a full team can register, or individuals can register as free agents.
June 18 is the deadline to register, but London encouraged interested players to register as soon as possible, since fees might go up as the deadline approaches.
League play begins July 2 in Dallas. Play begins June 24 in Austin, and the Houston season starts Aug. 5.
For information visit GayKickball.com or email America’sFinestKickballLeague@gmail.com
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition May 26, 2017.
Gay kickball is coming to Dallas
This is so exciting. the more people see this the better. I just love LGBT sports. This gives a great opportunity for many LGBT people to show their athletic skill and talent. So exciting that it is spreading to several cities as well.