NEWS Gay Sport South Africa – GSSA August 11, 2004 JOHANNESBURG — Since December 2002, GSSA was founded by a group of participants returning from Sydney Gay Games and has since, grown into one of the largest gay and lesbian networks in South Africa. The network caters specifically for those individuals who have an interest in sport in various capacities, and currently has almost 1500 members nationwide. The principle was to create a forum for those with a sporting interest, to be able to connect and interact with one another. Despite the collapse of many of the sporting organisation in South Africa over the last few years, it was still perceived that there was an interest in sport or a need for sporting organisation/ bodies/ groups. The circle works countrywide and in any sporting discipline, attempting to place an individual in touch with an existing organisation/ group should there be one, or attempt to bring together people in a specific area should there appear to be a need there. As a result there are now, for example, sports co-ordinators for various sports in Durban, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Bloemfontein (none of these had previously had strong sports groups). The needs may be various, from social to fitness to competitive to simply wanting a training partner and that is dependant on the individual member and their willingness to take this initiative and make it their own. GSSA retains a co-ordination/ facilitation function amongst its members, encouraging grass roots development but has avoided becoming, itself, an official organisation. GSSA has also partnered with various organisations in an attempt to spread the word and encourage other people to join the network, and hence making it easier to connect likeminded sporting individuals. With this in mind has resulted in an association with a resurgent TOGS (under the new Chairpersonship of Shane Blakebrough), since TOGS retains the only South African and African membership of the FGG (Federation of Gay Games – holder of the right to the Gay Games). This allows for the second focus of GSSA, the increased participation of South African LGBTI sporting persons in international events such as the Gay Games, OUTgames or Eurogames. If you have any queries please contact GaryC on gaysportsa@mweb.co.za. Related stories Kicks: Gay Soccer's World Cup Runneth Over [19/07/2004]