DENVER — Nearly 300 players across 20 different teams, all competing for one coveted trophy. It's playoff time for the Denver Gay Lesbian Flag Football League (DGLFFL), one of the largest 7v7 leagues in the entire country for the LGBTQ community and its straight allies.
"I was like, no way, this is way too good to be true. Competitive flag football, LGBTQ+ community," Hannah Marsh said.
The emphasis is on competitive. While it's a recreation league at its core, the DGLFFL boasts a handful of former collegiate athletes. Marsh was a three-sport athlete, who played volleyball at UNC Wilmington.
"It is very competitive," Marsh said. "Oftentimes, I like to call myself a competitive a**h***, where I just can't let that athlete in me go, and honestly, this is the best thing for me because it's family, but also competitive, athletic sportsmanship."
Kyle Gibson started at catcher for the University of Louisville, even making two appearances in the College Baseball World Series. He said the DGLFFL scratches that competitive itch.
"Coming from a collegiate background, you get that from this league," Gibson said. "Everyone is wanting to come out here to compete, be athletic, win a championship, so it's not a beer league softball, you're coming out here to play a sport, and people are competitive, so you know what you're getting and that makes it fun."
Whether players remain in the Denver-based recreation level of the DGLFFL, or they feed into the two competitive travel teams of Mile High Club for women and Summit for men, the theme is camaraderie and inclusiveness.
"In the end of it, you've got a family. You've got some people out here that you're close to," Gibson said. "You're out here competing and that's the kind of memories you want to make with friends, where you have good times and bad times. So I think that's what this league gives you."
Family is the theme over at the Denver Women's Hockey League, not a fully LGBTQ club on the surface, but it's where wives Jayne and Amy Parulis are a pair of former Division I athletes are pursuing competitive play alongside many likeminded women.
Jayne played on the inaugural women's hockey team at Quinnipiac University, so hockey is in her blood, but the former track and field Tar Heel is leaning on her pure athleticism to try something new.
"I've been competitive all of my life, so it wasn't really hard for me to hop right into a competitive team sport," Amy said.
While her wife has been lacing it up since age eight, Amy is on her first year of hockey.
"We came out here and heard about the Denver Women's Hockey League and at first, I did not take advantage of it. I sat and I watched and I kind of got to the point where I was like, I'm done watching. I'm ready to do this," Amy said. "I'm decent enough on skates, I have some decent enough stick handling skills, I'm an athlete, I want to do this, I'm going to do this."
Determination, perseverance, and competition are not associated with sexual orientation or gender identity, yet a stigma has been cast over he LGBTQ community that they're somehow unable to properly contribute to elite sports. Just ask these athletes if they subscribe to that stereotype.
"You just prove to them, like, hey I can play. You don't have to be a certain type or a certain way," Jayne said. "If you have talent, you have talent. Just go out and show them."
Marsh agreed.
"I think we just need to get rid of that stigma," she said. "There's a stigma out there for no reason. And honestly, we're just people. We're people like you and everybody else and we can be athletes. We can do anything we want to and want to accomplish and there shouldn't be a stigma toward anybody, because if anybody wants to be athletic and enjoy themselves, they should have that right and capacity to do so."
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