Steel City Volleyball League—25 years young and growing

by Mike Crawmer

Twenty-five years is a long time. In many cultures, 25 marks a significant milestone. Couples who’ve lasted two and a half decades together are supposed to congratulate themselves by buying something in silver. Reigning queens—the kind who live in real castles with princes as heirs—mark 25 years of crown wearing with a grand Silver Jubilee.

So, how does the Steel City Volleyball League mark 25 years of aces, kills, line shots, assists, lollipops, facials, digs, and dinks? By getting respectable, really respectable.

And how did it do that? By donating its memorabilia—old newsletters, tournament materials, photographs, even a video documentary—to the Senator John Heinz History Center, the largest history museum in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Credit for this unusual birthday gift goes to Keilan Rickard, a Duquesne University graduate student and SCVL board member. His work on his doctoral dissertation included documenting the history of the Pittsburgh only gay-and-lesbian volleyball league.

Rickard went to David Grinnell, chief archivist at the Center, to find out where information on organizations like the volleyball league might be found. One thing led to another and, voila, history, literally, was made.

This is not as unusual as it sounds, Grinnell said in a recent interview. “People often approach us, asking if we’d be interested in archiving the papers of, say, XYZ group.”

The Center’s library archives division is home to the papers of some of Pittsburgh oldest families—like the Wilkins’, O’Hara’s, and Denny’s—as well as the records of organizations ranging from philanthropies to women’s groups to corporations like U.S. Steel and, of course, Heinz.

Eventually, the Steel City Volleyball League’s papers and photos will share space with the records, trophies and memorabilia of the Steelers, Pirates, Penguins, ethnic bocce clubs and more in the Center’s popular Sports Museum.

It’s a logical place for the league’s papers, Grinnell said, because the Center “is interested in the way sports happens in western Pennsylvania,” and, he added, that includes sports in the LGBT community.

All pretty heady stuff for an organization that, for most of its existence, was an off-the-radar-screen type of organization.

Apparently, not anymore.

How else to explain the “unbelievable growth” of the league this year, said David Binder, president of the league for the past four years.

Binder, who will pass the president’s responsibilities over to his successor this summer, said league membership grew some 35 percent from the 2008–2009 season to the season that just ended.

“This year we had 137 players, by far the most we’ve ever had,” he said, his voice betraying a hint of wonder.

He credited the jump in membership to several factors: word of mouth, the league’s participation in last year’s Pride Day march downtown and an updated and much-improved website.

He also said the league’s re-organization into three divisions—beginners, intermediate, and advanced—probably helped attract new players.

“When everyone played together, the advanced players got frustrated and the beginners were intimidated… Now it’s a better experience all around for everyone” with members playing in divisions that better suit their skill level.

The league pulls members from the gay, lesbian and, yes, straight communities. The people in the last group—about five percent of all players—have joined the area’s only LGBT volleyball league because, Binder explained, “they were looking to play in a good volleyball league. People have told us we’re the best run league around.”

The male-to-female player percentage mix on the league is about 70-30, Binder estimated.

The oldest player is 53 or 54; the youngest, 20.

Most live in the immediate area, but two drive up from Morgantown, West Virginia.

All these people make for a fascinating mix, and “we all get along,” Binder said. “The league is as much a social thing as it is playing volleyball. And I think we’re going to grow.”

Binder said there is no limit to the number of people the league can accommodate.

The league’s annual membership fee of $45 covers space rental at the Green Tree Sportsplex, an annual banquet and, sometimes, Binder said, a T-shirt.

The volleyball league, like the Steel City Bowling League, breaks its playing year into two season: a fall season that runs from the first Sunday after Labor Day to just before Christmas and a spring season that runs from January through April.

Teams are formed at the beginning of the year—“We put teams together based on how many people show up,” Binder said. Games are played between 4 and 8 pm at the Sportsplex.

For some players, this schedule doesn’t provide enough opportunities for smacking the ball over a net. For them, there’s the attraction of traveling to other cities to play in tournaments sponsored by the North American Gay Volleyball Association.

This past April, six teams from the SCVL went to Cleveland for that city’s invitational tournament—“the best-represented Pittsburgh’s ever been outside the city,” Binder noted.

The league will host its own tournament the last weekend in September at Robert Morris University in Moon Township.

Binder said anyone wanting to help the league raise funds for this even should visit the website (steelcityvolleyball.org) where information about outdoor sand court games this summer will be posted.

The website offers a trove of information about the league, including schedules, SCVL rules and even a code of conduct, all of which can be downloaded.

The website also lists the teams, with names like Sweet Volley High, Kiss My Pass, Setsy Ladies, Service with a Smile and Steel Fagnolias.

For those who don’t want to wait until September to volley with the best of them, the league runs informal “open play” games at Schenley Park Oval (near the tennis courts on Overlook Drive) Tuesdays at 6:30 pm (for more advanced players) and Sundays at 1:30 pm, beginning in June.

In the meantime, look for league members stepping out at the noon Pride Awareness March in downtown Pittsburgh on Sunday, June 13, and under a tent at PrideFest later that same day.

For more information on the Steel City Volleyball League, go to their site at steelcityvolleyball.org or friend them on Facebook or Twitter.