'Unmatched Athlete' empowers LGBTQ+ youth through sports: 'Helps you build community'
BALTIMORE -- A Baltimore-area organization, "Unmatched Athlete," is empowering LGBTQ+ youth through sports.
This program creates a safe space for young sports enthusiasts who identify as LGBTQ+.
Their goal is to normalize queer people and their love of sports at an early age and climb with pride.
"They are seeing that it's an opening, taking up the space and enjoying it fully," said Thea Grillow, gym director at Movement Hampden.
"Unmatched Athlete" is partnered with Movement Hampden to empower queer youth and allies who loves sports and climbing.
"It's kind of our job in facilitating those types of activities, to not just include those individuals, but elevate them and show them that our door is not only open but that we want to invite them into the space," Grillow said.
In "Unmatched Athlete," they use sports as an antidote for life and its many labels.
"Sports is one of those elements where you can actually build community, where you can actually build great friends, but when you don't feel that that space supports you, that's an element that you're missing in your life," said Olanrele Oni, President and Founder of "Unmatched Athlete.
Oni, who identifies as queer, comes from Nigeria.
His love of sports along, with his identity, created this safe space for queer youth to climb with pride.
"Also, from the standpoint of just building empathy, even if you don't identify as LGBTQ+, how can you build empathy for people in our community if you don't see them often," Oni said. "So I wanted to be able to do this because also I wish I had something like this when I was younger."
Oni is helping other young people like Will Fullerton, a high school field hockey player whose pronouns are she and her.
"Sports is not just, at least in my opinion, not just a physical activity," Fullerton said. "It also helps you build community, helps you build a team."
On Saturday, June 17, for Pride Month, "Unmatched Athlete" is hosting a fundraiser to continue helping young people stand out.
Their message to other queer youth looking to fit in is, "you belong, you belong and stop worrying so much about how other people think about you," Oni said.
"Go for it, even if people are telling you that you can't do something or shouldn't do something," Fullerton said. "Keep trying."
For more information on "Unmatched Athlete," visit this website.