I feel as though this will be an excellent way to show the true happenings in the minds of athletes that are now being faced with more and more homosexuals on the teams, along with in their locker rooms. I must say that when I first came out to my team, my summer club team, I was extremely nervous that the aura in the locker room would change. On my teams, the locker room is not only a place for changing (yeah,yeah, I know what it sounds like I am going to say...and no, that doesn't happen in our room. :P) our locker room is sorta a place for team bonding, I guess you could call it that. We talk, we towel whip, we have fun in our locker room. Normal male fun. Some would say pig-brained. But that is what it is. We have talk about our inside jokes, we basically do random shit. It's just how,I assume, most male locker rooms are. I mean, really, when you are stuck with the same people for like five months, you become relaxed when your around them, regardless of the level of clothes. And I did not want to be the one to ruin that. I wouldn't allow it.So therefore, in order to help not only my fears about the upcoming season...and the locker room, I want to help everyone's fears. We all have them, it's just whether or not you admit to it. I promise you that this project will be my top priority, well the name will be my second priority, I will personally interview both straight and gays, both swimmers and non-swimmers, I will do my best to make this project mind blowing. I want to help all people.
If you have any ideas, name suggestions, concerns, or anything like that, you may,as always, contact me via Email. And don't forget to follow me on twitter to get all of the up to date news about the blog.
I will write soon!
Hi there!
ReplyDeleteI'm a gay swimmer too and I'm out to my team. A few months ago I began browsing blogs written by gay athletes and I've found the fear of the locker rooms to be a constant in some of them.
I'm from Mexico City and maybe it's something cultural because I don't really get what the big deal with locker rooms is.
Just like you said, locker rooms are the place were we all bond as a team. We joke around and stuff, mainly because even though we're a team, while training we can be pretty competitive against each other and that can produce some frictions. The jockes, the towel whipping, the pranks, they all bring our dynamics back to normal after a tough training session.
From my experience, being gay changes absolutely nothing. You're still one of the guys, you joke around with them, they joke around with you. And so far, in the four years I've been with these guys, me being gay changed absolutely nothing.
Maybe in the States it's different (I don't know how much truth there is in the whole "high school hierarchy system" that's depicted in American TV shows and movies), but I'd really suggest not to worry about it, most of our fears are only real in our minds.
Well, this is from my experience, I'd love to read how being a gay athlete is for other people around the world.