“It’s a pub football team. Pub is half the activity,” Viv quips in Jumpers for Goalposts as she encourages the social aspect of their soccer team. Social sports are skyrocketing in popularity in DC and other major cities where meeting new people can often be overwhelming. These amateur leagues offer an alternative to crowded, loud, and expensive nightlife. While the Jumpers for Goalposts team, Barely Athletic, struggles on the football pitch, in the US, kickball is the go-to game for casual athleticism: it appeals to the nostalgic sensibilities of twenty- and thirty-somethings, has but few simple rules to master, and doesn’t require much athletic prowess to hold one’s own out on the field. DC boasts at least six adult kickball leagues, many of which, due to demand, subsequently expanded to include other sports such as volleyball, bocce, dodgeball, and even flip cup (for those who wish to do away with any pretense of athleticism).
Back in 2010, DC resident Martin Espinoza and his friends formed a kickball team and joined a league. Espinoza and many of his teammates, however, happened to be gay. After a few uncomfortable experiences and some unkind words at the bar after a game, Martin realized LGBTQ kickballers needed a league of their own. Stonewall Sports, DC’s premier LGBTQ social sports league, was born, creating a safe space for queer people to be themselves and meet other queers in a fun and unique way.
Studio Theatre employees Eric Colton and Rachael Wilkinson belong to the Matzo Balls, a Stonewall team started by a gay networking group called the Nice Jewish Boys. While the Matzo Balls’ current season is off to a rocky 0-2 start just like Barely Athletic (that’s life imitating art for you), Eric and Rachael had other motivations for joining the team beyond the thrill of victory. Eric found the Matzo Balls two years ago: “I was a recent transplant to Washington DC and felt that, as a gay Jew in a city where I knew nobody, this could be a great way to make friends.” Rachael joined the team at Eric’s behest, though she is no stranger to DC’s queer community which she values as a space to be recognized as gay. “Having to out yourself constantly is annoying,” she explained.
Neither Rachael nor Eric would call themself a jock, but athleticism was never really part of the appeal. “Some people take the game way too seriously,” said Rachael, “but everyone is really nice. I like the Matzo Balls because we try, but we don't really care. We're just there to have fun.” After their weekly match, the Matzo Balls and the rest of the teams head to the bar to hang out and play drinking games to either celebrate their win or dull the pain of defeat. “I think my teammates took the flip cup more seriously than the kickball,” Rachael revealed. As it turns out, Viv was right: “Pub is half the activity.”
—Jen Gushue