Beyond the Big 5 Issue 9
covering nontraditional, emerging and niche sports with a focus on women and LGBTIQA+ people
Hello and happy second week of Pride month!
The BB5 Pride Challenge
A few years ago, I went to a panel on trans athlete at a sports tourism conference. One of the panelists was Bertinand Gardner, program director for LGBTQ SAVES, a nonprofit serving queer and trans youth in the Fort Worth, Texas area. It turned out Gardner played quadball (then called quidditch) at Baylor University back in college! Now he runs support groups and in person events like an annual picnic with LGBTQ SAVES. Immediately after the panel I became a monthly donor of LGBTQ SAVES. This month, I challenge all my readers to connect with an organization in your area that helps LGBTQIA+ youth. My ultimate goal is for you to become a monthly donor! If donating is out of reach, sign up for their newsletter, or perhaps inquire about volunteering. If you want to support LGBTQ SAVES, here is their donation link.
What’s Out Now
Quadball
“Spotlight on Chantal Siodlarz from UVA Quadball” By Me!
UVA was dealt a rough hand in the first couple minutes of the D-I final against Creighton when one of their star players was injured in a collision that took them out of the game. I was late to this game and missed this happening, and initially was so confused when I arrived and saw how much Creighton was up with no goals on the board for UVA. Then I saw Emma Rollins, said star player, on the sidelines and it made more sense. Watching the team re-coalesce together and come back from this shake up was a delight, especially tracking the performance of chaser Chantal Siodlarz, who amazingly has only been playing for two seasons. Siodlarz makes her MLQ debut this weekend with the Washington Admirals. Watch this one; she’s going places!
“Players to Watch: Week One” by MLQ
Featuring Soildlarz! As always MLQ’s written coverage is excellent. Here’s the schedule of games for Saturday, June 7:
Toronto vs Cleveland at 4pm ET
Washington vs NYC at 6pm ET
Kansas City vs Houston at 7pm CT
Watch them all on YouTube.
“Cleveland Riff Season Preview: A 30-Person Band” by Fast Break News
FBN is back with their in depth MLQ coverage including previews of every team! I still can’t believe Riff has so many players this season. I’m stoked!
“Tournament Format & Group Draw Announcement” by IQA World Cup
This might be the least complicated international tournament format in years; I love it! The Quadball World Cup is next month in Belgium. Pools A-C will play opponents within their pool. Pools E-G will do cross pool play. Then there will be a big bracket and consolation games so that every single team is ranked!
Ultimate
This is the last weekend of the PUL season; their championships are next weekend. Only two out of four spots have been finalized for that tournament. There apparently could possibly be a three way tie for one of them depending on how things shake up this weekend!
The big deal though is the WUL Championship, taking place today and tomorrow in Oakland, CA! I’ll be onsite for all four games, taking photos and videos plus conducting interviews.
“2025 WUL Championship Weekend Preview” by Noam Gumerman
Normally I’d be inclined to pick the home team as the favorite to win, as WUL games historically have a strong home team advantage, but Bay Area Falcons are going into this weekend as the no. 4 seed. They face defending champs Colorado Alpenglow in the second semifinal. San Diego has made it to the finals twice, both against Seattle, but hasn’t won yet. My money is on the Super Bloom to win this whole thing.
Here is the game schedule:
Saturday, June 7
Semifinal 1 - 4:00pm PT: (2) San Diego Super Bloom vs (3) Seattle Tempest
Semifinal 2 - 7:00pm PT: (1) Colorado Alpenglow vs (4) Bay Area Falcons
Sunday, June 8
3rd Place - 12:00pm PT: Loser of Semifinal 1 vs Loser of Semifinal 2
Final - 3:00pm: Winner of Semifinal 1 vs Winner of Semifinal 2
All games are watchable on YouTube.
What’s Next
I started an official public calendar on the BB5 website! Next week is the aforementioned PUL Championship, plus MLQ week two. And I still have a boat load of media to release from the last year! I’m also starting to set interviews for IQA World Cup pieces, starting with Team Mexico.
Different Happenings
At the end of the month, I’m joining Rainbow City Marching Band, Drumline and Color Guard as they march in Seattle’s Pride parade! Rainbow City supports several teams in Seattle, like Reign FC, the Seawolves, and the new Ballard FC.
Other Sports News
Major League Baseball has made a historic investment in pro softball for the first time, becoming a league partner with Athletes Unlimited’s inaugural Softball League. AU normally has players rotate on teams during a season but AUSL will instead be a more traditional affair, with four set teams competing over a seven week season that kicks off today. Watch on the MLB network and ESPN. Also, Texas Longhorns won their first NCAA softball world series championship. Light the tower!
In Closing
I love the month of June and also it’s getting to be more chaotic than I anticipated! Hope your summer is off to a great start.
Beyond the Big 5 is written by Mary Kimball.