© Dan McMahon

© Dan McMahon

 

DYKE SOCCER MXIFESTO

Our central mission is to make health and wellness accessible for queer women, trans, gender non-conforming, and non binary people. Soccer is the medium. Safe physical fitness spaces are rare for queer folks and we advocate for inclusive culture wherever we play. 

We aim to be MORE INCLUSIVE THAN COOL. We are built in response to a closed or homogenous culture that accompanies many teams. Dyke Soccer is a community built around cruising, connections, and sport free from focus on substance and profit. We’re a pop-up dyke bar in your local park: sub the booze for a soccer ball. 

As we create space and resources for our community we recognize that we are situated within broader social contexts of inequality and injustice and we can share effort and resources toward counteracting these.

 
 

DYKE SOCCER GUIDELINES

RESPECT PRONOUNS -  If you do not know someone’s pronouns, ask the person for their pronouns or use they/them. Please be mindful: pronouns do not necessarily signify gender.  

NO CONTACT - We believe that the level of play (and player experience) is better when we prioritize footwork and ball control over brute force. Many of our players do not have health insurance. Contact includes: blasting the ball at short range from players, playing your body toward an opposing player’s body versus the ball, and generally playing without regard for the physical well-being of yourself and others. Care is an essential tenet of our culture. 

NON-COMPETITIVE - Dyke Soccer is a collective. We are on the same team and are constantly switching sides. All skill levels are welcome. We encourage a high level of play, while remembering that many of us are on the field for the first time. We congratulate our teammates, our opponents, and ourselves for showing up. We don’t keep score. 

NO GENDER POLICING - Players will never be asked to share their gender identity in order to play. We are for whomever this feels like home. We ask cisgender men to respect that our central goal is to create space and time on the pitch for queer women, transfolx, and gender-variant players. Further, there is often already ample playspace for cisgender men. We hope that our mission is clear enough that people will self-determine whether this is a space for them. All being said, we would rather take the chance of playing with a few cisgender men over being TERFy. 

FINANCIALLY ACCESSIBLE FOR ALL - NON-HIERARCHICAL MEMBERSHIP - We are sustained via self-determined sliding-scale donations. To learn more about your appropriate donation level, click here. Regardless of what/whether you are able to give, you will receive the same benefits as all other members: pickup soccer games, soccer training and clinics, our Dyke Soccer newsletter “Tongue in Cleat,” our mailing list with opportunities, access to free events, opportunities to cross-promote, and a community of friends. 

LEAD FROM THE BENCH - We strive to cultivate leadership in all Dyke Soccer members, wherever they may want to lead (whether as a captain, a chapter organizer, a committee lead, a newsletter member, or a teammate). We intend that captains will lead from behind, share the captaining role, and relate to captaining as an act of service rather than a position of dominance. 

WE BUILD AS A GROUP - We encourage people to use Dyke Soccer as a resource for networking and love. We support cross-promotion of relevant causes. We strive to spotlight a revolving door of teammates in our press and social presence. We welcome feedback via polls and feedback forms. 

PLEASURE OVER PRESSURE - We do this because it’s fun. Laughter is a virtue. We flaunt queer love, we roast ourselves, and we recognize that joy is the easiest space to create from.

CALL IN V. OUT - We use conflict as an opportunity for growth. Wherever possible, we have called in organizations and people whose policies and behaviors we disagree with. We give and seek feedback, and create opportunities for conversations via petitions and facilitated discussions. We are not interested in using our platform as a space for shaming or blaming; rather, we seek to use our resources as an opportunity for standing up for what we believe in and advocating for change. 

 
© Nicole Kurily

© Nicole Kurily

CHAPTERS In the event of new chapter formation, we mentor all new chapters so that they are well equipped with our rules, values, language, and tools. Chapters are co-led by their local organizers and are overseen by the steering committee. 

SHARE OUR RESOURCES - The larger we become, the more access we have as a collective to resources. We can share our resources (e.g. space, time, money) with our local communities. When we work in solidarity with community we align ourselves in solidarity with POC, immigrants, people with disabilities, working class, decolonial, decarceral, and anti-patriarchal causes. 

MAKING POWER VISIBLE - Leadership and decision making protocol is named in our ABOUT section. Feedback can be submitted here

VISIBILIZE LABOR - We seek to make labor visible wherever possible - crediting ourselves and each other. Invisiblilizing labor makes it harder to remain sustainable. We budget for consistent and significant labor.

SUSTAINABILITY - We are committed to realistic work plans and thoughtful decision making that prioritizes process over urgency. With our primary mission in our hearts, we value sustainable growth that offers our resources to those in need.

CULTURE OF APPRECIATION + GRATITUDE - We are grateful for the people and history that makes Dyke Soccer possible: thank your captains, thank our queer ancestors, compensate your team leaders, and contribute to costs through donations.

SERVICE TOPS, FANS, VOYEURS, + REFS WELCOME - We hold space for all folx wanting to participate, regardless of whether you lace up and join in on the pitch. We’re a space for playing as well as cruising… and we play better when we’re watched. Cum join us ;)

If you notice any of the above values not being respected, call in and/or alert the captain. 

This is a living document with contributions from Alex Schmidt, Megan Hicks, Jolie Signorile, Kayla Green, Megan Harney, and …

This document is informed and influenced by:

Showing Up For Racial Justice, Trans Boxing, Anne Lieberman + Hill Donnell of Athlete Ally, “Leading from the Bench” is borrowed from Abby Wambach’s Wolfpack, ADAPT, The Tyranny of Structureless by Jo Freeman, manifesto research shared by AK Burns, sliding-scale is influenced by the financially-accessible gym Strength for All, and…

 
 
 

Through petitioning and in-person discussions, Dyke Soccer has helped organize the YMCA in Bed-Stuy to put up trans and genderqueer inclusive bathroom signs. Dyke Soccer has raised and donated over $2000 to local LGBTQ, prison abolitionist, and migrant relief organizations such as Black + Pink NYC and Annunciation House. 

© Rebekah Campbell

© Rebekah Campbell