Stonewall Sports To Host National Tournament In Twin Cities

It’s been a pretty good year for sports so far in the Twin Cities. The Minnesota Timberwolves had their best season in 20 years, the Minnesota Lynx are off to a hot start, the Minnesota Twins had a sausage-inspired 12-game winning streak, and 16-year-old phenom Lily Yohannes scored her debut goal for the United States Women’s National Soccer Team at Allianz Field.

But, so far, a national championship hasn’t been contested this year in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. That all changes in July. Or, if you don’t care about sports but don’t have enough parties and pageants in your life, that can change too. 

Stonewall Sports will host its 10th annual National Tournament & Summit from July 18-21 in the Twin Cities.

Stonewall Sports was founded in Washington, D.C. in 2010, according to Stonewall Sports National Tournament Director and Minneapolis educator Suzanne Blum Grundyson. It expanded first across the East Coast, then across the country, including the Twin Cities chapter. There are now chapters in 26 cities.

While the national tournament has been around for 10 years, it has only been traveling for five, Blum Grundyson said. The first editions of the tournament were all in Washington, D.C., where Stonewall was founded.

Since then, representatives of local chapters have bid to host national tournaments, according to Blum Grundyson. Bids are approved based on a potential host city’s access to adequate venues, accommodations for participants and other relevant infrastructure.

In 2022, the Twin Cities and Philadelphia chapters both bid successfully to be hosts, Blum Grundyson said. Before becoming the national tournament director, Blum Grundyson represented the Twin Cities chapter at the national organization and led its bid to host the tournament. Philadelphia was granted the 2023 tournament, while the Twin Cities had to wait an extra year.

That wait will be rewarded with a three-day extravaganza featuring nine sports, affinity mixers, the Stonewall Summit and, of course, parties.

The sports featured at this year’s tournament will be kickball, dodgeball, bocce ball, tennis, cornhole, pickleball, volleyball, billiards and bowling, Blum Grundyson said. There has only been one change from the previous tournament in Philadelphia — beach volleyball has been abandoned in favor of a larger indoor volleyball tournament because they couldn’t find a suitable venue for beach volleyball close to the downtown hotels where most of the participants will be staying.

Some of the venues that were selected are the University of Minnesota Recreation and Wellness Center for dodgeball and volleyball, the Northeast Athletic Fields for kickball and volleyball, more kickball at Lake Nokomis Park, Memory Lanes for bowling, Lucky Shots for pickleball and Jimmy’s Pro Billiards (yes, for billiards), according to Blum Grundyson.

The Twin Cities chapter has leagues for all of those sports except volleyball, billiards and bowling, Blum Grundyson said. Other chapters have some sports that won’t be included at the national tournament, including e-sports, running and yoga.

There will be a tournament for each sport starting on Saturday with championship matches on Sunday, according to Blum Grundyson.

Outside of the tournaments, there will be showcase events on Friday, Blum Grundyson said. Those events are the Cornhole Exhibition, Dodgeball Remix and Dodgeball Showcase. The Dodgeball Showcase event is for women, transgender and nonbinary players, and Blum Grundyson picked it out as one of the events she’s most excited about.

Prices per player range from $25 for sports like dodgeball and cornhole to $95 for billiards, bowling and tennis, according to Stonewall’s website. The minimum age to participate is 21.

Before the sports tournaments commence, there will be the Stonewall Summit. The summit is a place to organize activism and advocacy, Blum Grundyson said. It will feature local and national politicians and activists and highlight education and service opportunities.

Stonewall is partnering with Reclaim, a Minnesota organization that offers mental health support to LGBTQ+ youth, for the summit, according to Blum Grundyson.

Also on Friday are Stonewall’s affinity mixers. There will be events for women, Latinx people, Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders, Black and African American people, sober people and those in active recovery from addiction, transgender people, nonbinary people and people over the age of 50, Blum Grundyson said.

The affinity mixers will take place at different venues across the Cities, according to Blum Grundyson. Some venues will host multiple mixers — like Roxy’s, which has three floors and will host the transgender, nonbinary and over-50 mixers. Blum Grundyson said she expects many people to attend multiple mixers, reflecting their intersecting identities.

That’s not all for Friday, either. In addition to the affinity mixers and the summit, Stonewall’s pageant will also take place Friday at First Ave. The pageant started as mostly drag performances, but has evolved to become more like “Stonewall’s Got Talent,” Blum Grundyson said.

On Saturday night, Stonewall will host a decades-themed Rainbow Rewind party with dancing, games and burlesque, according to Blum Grundyson. On Sunday, after the tournaments have concluded, there will be an awards show at Sociable Cider Werks. The awards will honor community all-stars, Blum Grundyson said.

While the tournaments and other events are exciting, Stonewall means more than that to those who participate in it. Blum Grundyson said she had tried several other sports leagues in the Twin Cities but didn’t find the mix of community and competition she was looking for until she joined Stonewall as a kickball player in 2016. Since then, she has not only grown increasingly involved in the organization but has met friends and even her wife through Stonewall and the connections she made there.

“It became the hub of my social relationships,” Blum Grundyson said.

James Chadwick, Blum Grundyson’s kickball teammate and a clinical social worker and therapist, said he has also found joy through Stonewall, even if he’s not too competitive about the sports.

“[My favorite part is] definitely the social stuff … hanging out, I don’t drink but grabbing some drinks, going out on the weekends,” Chadwick said. “It’s like a fraternity or sorority, but a lot cheaper!”

“I grew up as a kid who went to camp, and I worked at a women’s music festival for 10 years in my twenties and thirties,” Blum Grundyson said. “So I fully believe you can have a really beloved community of people who see each other once a year and look forward to seeing each other once a year. I call it queer sport camp. It’s a national tournament, but it’s kind of just like queer sport camp for adults.”

Unlike many summer camps, the Stonewall National tournament isn’t a day of long driving away — it’s right down the street. Whether you’re into pickleball or pageants, or even if you just want to meet some people, it has something for you.

Stonewall Sports 10th Annual National Tournament & Summit
July 18 – 21, 2024 • Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN  
www.stonewallsports.org/national-tournament