LEADERSHIP AWARD

of his chosen family, he believes that getting rewarded for something he already loves doing is both a shock and an unexpected honor he greatly appreciates. When asked, he said, “I really don’t have words to describe how surprised and thankful I am.”

A volunteer in year two of the festival’s 16 seasons, he began by helping field reps and being in charge of wristband and cup sales. When Scearce became SCC director, he put Dixon and Alan Matsudo in charge of the Friday registration party, giving them an excellent opportunity to liaise with all the other sports coordinators involved as well as sponsors and vendors.

Great memories of working with Scearce are just part of Dixon’s gifts from his volunteering for GLASA and the Sin City Classic. He also includes joy, friendship and fulfillment as part of the package. Even though finding another Ken Scearce sounds like nearly impossible odds, Dixon still encourages everyone to volunteer. Who knows? It’s Vegas, Baby – you may just get lucky!

Sin City Classic Adds New Sports

For millennia sports have existed as an equalizer, a vault of deeply-rooted traditions that have continued to evolve over time. From this evolution has come our more inclusive tradition of sports diversity, such as the Sin City Classic which celebrated its 16th anniversary this past January. Along with a growth in the number of LGBTQ+ and allied participants, this year’s SCC also brought two new sports – sand volleyball and pickleball to its list of sporting events.

Pickleball, one of the fastest-growing sports in the U.S., made its debut at this year’s Sin City Classic with organizers, Darla Christensen and Elise Lindborg at the helm. Tournaments were held on the roof of the Plaza Hotel, formerly the Union Plaza on Fremont Street, according to Christensen. “We just got our pickleball courts redone and resurfaced earlier this year,” she said. “We’ve got 16 of them and they’re absolutely gorgeous, so we were super excited to roll that out with this tournament.”

Christensen’s biggest quest was to find opportunities for beginner players to get on the courts. Tournaments are usually designed with bracket play favoring more experienced players, meaning newer players get less playing time. So to encourage more gameplay among newer players, they did small round robins that gave newer players a great introduction to the sport before being added to bracket play.

But pickleball wasn’t this year’s only new kid on the block. Sand volleyball was also added to the total lineup at this year’s SCC. So whether you were already an experienced player or a newbie, you were invited to get ready to spike and dig in to launch this exciting new Sin City sport coordinated by OutLoud Sports, formerly the Varsity Gay League. A popular multi-sport group for LGBTQIA+ and ally members, VGL recently made a name and logo change to reflect more accurately the fast-growing diversity of its membership.

There were 16 teams from across the U.S. competing but there was still room for new people who were interested. A seeded bracket tournament, Day 1 was for seeding matches with seeding determined by their final rank. Games were played in one-hour timeframes, best two out of three, rally points to 21. Day 2: single elimination tournament.

And in keeping with the philanthropic nature of LBBTQ+ sporting events, several sports were used to raise money at this year’s festival for some great causes:

Cornhole For Charity Tournament

The popular SCCs Cornhole for Charity tournament was back for year two. To honor Ken Scearce’s legacy, all proceeds from this tournament support the Ken Scearce Scholarship Fund.

STEEL-TIP CRICKET DARTS TOURNAMENT

For the second year, Rogue League Sports organized a Steel-Tip Cricket Darts Tournament to help raise money for the Ken Scearce Scholarship Fund.

Kicking Out Transphobia Soccer Match

The USA’s first-ever full soccer match consisting of transgender and nonbinary players was an SCC feature event. Co-organized by IGLFA, the match raised money for the Kicking Out Transphobia soccer organization, helping it to fund scholarships for trans and nonbinary soccer players to compete in upcoming IGLFA tournaments.

PRIDE CHEERLEADING ASSOCIATION’S CHARITABLE CHEER COMPETITION

PCA was active on both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was a day of “VolunCHEERING” where PCA athletes traveled to several different sports to cheer, perform routines and raise money. On Sunday the cheer competition started with “bucketing on the strip” at 11 a.m., with competition taking place at Noon in the Flamingo’s Sunset Ballroom. This year’s beneficiary was the Golden Rainbow organization which provides housing, education and direct financial assistance to people and families living with HIV/AIDS in Southern Nevada.•

HOMETOWN: Nowra, New South Wales, Australia

CURRENT RESIDENCE: San Antonio, Texas

SPORT(S) PLAYED: Long Drive Golf, Softball

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Married to Ashleigh McDonald

WHAT’S YOUR DAY JOB: Owner/CEO Shade by Jamie (Shades, Shutters, Blinds, etc. for Residential & Commercial)

To continue our interview Jaime, how did you come to compete in Long Drive Golf? In May 2019 I started another chapter in my life with a new career at an engineering company. As a teambuilding activity, we played golf during the summer. It had been six years since I had played golf. My first drive was a bomb – 280 yards straight down the fairway! With that one shot I was addicted to playing golf again.

During that round, my co-worker jokingly stated I should compete in the World Long Drive competition. But my path to competing had a hitch: I’m a transgender woman. So I reached out to the World Long Drive Association and the Golf Channel for their policies and procedures that I had to follow in order to compete. They were very welcoming, wanting to be inclusive for transgender athletes wanting to compete in their events.

In 2020 my career in Long Drive was about to begin when unfortunately, COVID-19 shut down my plans. I was completely gutted – tournaments were canceled and the Golf Channel closed the World Long Drive Brand.

After several months of quarantine, I was able to get back to training and preparing for my first event. I’ll never forget the thrill and excitement of standing on the tee box and staring down the grid at my first event. I was completely hooked on competing in long drive events.

I’m really impressed by your enthusiasm. By completely hooked, I’m guessing that’s you confirming that you’ve turned professional long drive golfer? Yes. Fresh after competing in the 2022 World Championships Ultimate Long Drive (ULD), I reflected on my amazing season of Golf Long Drive Tournaments. I competed in Florida at the Xtreme Long Drive (XLD) World Championships, finishing fifth in the Women’s Open Division, second in the 40+ division and third in the 45+ division. This is on top of my success in both the Texas League and the Professional Long Drive

Association (PLDA). Plus in Denver, Colorado I hit a new personal best of 348 yards/291 meters.

That’s incredible. But you’ve competed in both Florida and Texas. As a trans woman and Athlete Ally representative, how have you been treated overall in anti-trans states like these? Are you doing any public speaking appearances for the organization or limiting your exposure to the written word? Between my career competing and traveling, it’s important to stand up for your rights and to be a role model for future generations of LGBTQI+ athletes. I’ve shared my story and experience to thousands of people and created many friends along the way.

Sure, there are negative people out there that have not educated themselves or believe in wild conspiracies, but they are always welcome to sit down with me, have a beer and talk about the facts. I’ve done some guest speaking opportunities for Pride events and I look forward to doing more speaking engagements in the future.

As an Athlete Ally, I’m a part of their Ambassador program which collaborates with and supports sport federations, organizations, associations and schools to ensure that future generations of LGBTQI+ athletes have opportunities and rewarding careers.

Is rewarding the word you apply to your personal journey as an athlete? My journey into professional Golf Long Drive has been imperative for my own growth as an athlete. I am thankful that my fellow competitors and community have had the opportunity to learn about my journey and about the importance of LGBTQI+ inclusion in sports because I am an Ambassador. Whether a person is an amateur or professional athlete, playing sports builds leadership skills, camaraderie, passion and character, which is why LGBTQI+ inclusion in all parts of life, including sports, is so valuable.•