Sports on the agenda of Bay Area Youth Summit

The Bay Area Youth Summit (BAYS) was an event hosted by Aragon High’s Gay/Straight Alliance in San Mateo, CA on Saturday, April 23, 2011. The main topic of this important summit was bullying, and the many ways to effectively stand up to them and make sure schools are safe.

The Federation of Gay Games was represented by Wrestlers Without Borders delegate Roger Brigham. Brigham presented a workshop entitled "Empowerment through Inclusive Sports" for the youth-initiative event.

"The Gay-Straight Alliance did a great job of putting together this summit, which it hopes to turn into an annual event," Brigham said. "The workshop I conducted was the only sports element in the summit, so it was important to be involved."

Topics covered in the workshop included personal and community benefits of sports involvement, barriers to participation, and an inclusive rather than an elitist approach to sports.

"This was a really good chance to meet with young gay and straight athletes," Brigham said. "They were excited to learn about not just what they can do within their current scholastic programs, but about the wider choice of sports they will have after school through LGBT clubs."