Before joining LGBTQ+ inclusive sports sessions, Asa Bryce never knew what he was missing out on.
Despite playing school football and badminton, and then taking up the martial art kempo at university, Bryce would never have classed himself as competitive, instead mostly preferring to go to the gym or on cycles.
That was always going to lend itself to the kind of inclusive environment that Leap Sports fosters with its introductory sessions and support for inclusive clubs.
However, when Bryce was at uni in Aberdeen, most of the sessions he saw advertised were in Glasgow or Edinburgh, making it impractical for him to attend.
Eventually moving to Dundee, that would change when he saw events being added to the calendar in Tayside.
“I would have loved to have gone to events before, but last summer I saw things starting to pop up over Tayside,” Bryce recalled.
“It was a climbing group, and then when I went to that I got told about these other things that were happening, so that’s how I found pickleball through the Dundee Deuces.
“The problem now is that I want to do everything, but I don’t have the time to do it all.
“I was a little bit nervous going along for the first time – any time you meet new people it’s going to be a little bit nerve-wracking.
“It was nice in a way though, because there were lots of people who were just like me. I knew nobody would question me or ask anything awkward, I could just tell people who I am and that would be enough – all that mattered was that I was there to climb with everyone else.
“It was a really nice feeling of being included in a really effortless way, and without feeling like anyone was going out of their way to include me, or that I had to tell people before I went along.
“Before, I would tell someone my pronouns and they would pass that on before I got there. It’s always difficult to know how to introduce yourself, or where to get changed, so when you’re not the only one it takes some of those nerves away.
“To be honest, the nerves were more from meeting a new group of people for the first time, whoever they are. If they’re not part of the LGBTQ+ community, or know people who are, it can just add an extra layer on top of everything else.
“If it’s a sport that has gendered groups, I might worry about which group they’re going to put me in, and how I say it’s the wrong one if that’s what happens. With Leap, I knew that there would be other people like me, so it would be okay.”
Those potential issues are not just random hypotheticals, they are problems Bryce has had to overcome in the past.
A trans man, he had got used to being perceived as feminine and being placed into women’s groups if there was a gender divide in groups he was attending.
Even though he is not misgendered so often nowadays, he still goes through the mental preparation of what he would do if a similar situation were to arise again.
“It’s always in the back of my mind, what will I do if this happens again?” Bryce admitted.
“It’s happened enough times to me, but it might be the first time that person has ever made that assumption, so I try not to be annoyed by it even though it is annoying. I don’t think it’s uncommon for people to feel that way, so it’s trying to find that balance.
“You just have to get on with it to be honest. I didn’t feel brave enough to speak up when that happened, and I didn’t want to make anyone else feel uncomfortable by correcting them in front of everybody.
“I didn’t want to make them feel like they didn’t know what to do, so I just didn’t really speak up about it.
“Physically I’m not that big and strong, so no matter what group of people I’m in I’m usually one of the smaller people. From that point of view, if it’s a sport that relies on weight-classes, that could be what the person is thinking.
“It’s always on my mind a little bit if I go along to something that’s not an LGBTQ+ space. How do I correct people? What do I do about it? Do I do anything about it? I think if it was somewhere I wanted to go back to again, I would speak up now. If it was something I was doing as a one-off, I probably wouldn’t waste my time and energy.
“If it was somewhere I felt supported enough, I would try to do it in as casual a way as I could. To people who don’t have this problem, it might seem like a really small thing, but it’s a really fundamental thing I think.”
As well as being trans, Bryce has had his mind opened to different approaches and cultures through travelling around the world teaching English as a foreign language.
Living and working in South Korea, for example, meant he became used to looking and feeling different, and realising that most people are just going about their own business without judging others.
Before coming out, he was also friends with many LGBTQ+ people in Madrid, meaning he gained an appreciation of the challenges they were facing before being confronted with them himself.
What he brought back to Scotland was an ability to connect with people from different backgrounds, and a willingness to try new things – which has certainly paid dividends through the LGBTQ+ sports groups he has joined.
“What I’ve brought back with me is just loads and loads of experiences,” Bryce explained.
“You can usually find a way to connect with people, even if it has nothing to do with language.
“Most of the time people want to be seen and have friends. There are loads of things that are just part of the experience of being human, and speaking a different language or coming from a different culture doesn’t mean you don’t share that with someone.
“A lot of the time when I was in different countries, I would get people asking me along to different festivals because they were so excited that someone was interested in finding out about them and their lives, and I have always hoped that if someone came to Scotland we would be as welcoming to them.
“In my job now, I try to empathise with people and understand what it is they are feeling, and what they want or need, even when we don’t speak the same language to understand each other.
“I got quite good at giving people space and time, because people often pause when they don’t know what to say and I’ve become a lot more comfortable with that silence and space in conversations. I probably wouldn’t be able to do any of those things if I hadn’t gone and lived in different places.
“You develop a real curiosity for things as well. If you just take yourself along to something and genuinely give it a go, and you feel like the space is supportive enough that you can be yourself, that makes it a whole lot easier to open up and talk to people.
“It makes it easier to express yourself, but also just easier to try things and make mistakes. It doesn’t matter if you try it and you’re rubbish, what matters is that you are there and enthusiastic.
“Most people at the Dundee Deuces are beginners, and there are about 20 people who turn up at weekends. A lot of the time the ball gets hit over the fence, but that’s fine – as long as you get a little bit more confident in yourself, that doesn’t matter.
“Having been a beginner lots of times through living in lots of countries, I’m used to that feeling. It doesn’t make it less scary, but it makes it more familiar and I can recognise that it doesn’t last forever. That probably makes it easier to try new things.”
Other challenges Bryce has taken on over the last year are Etape races and the Qeltic Games.
As cycling sportives, Etapes have charity fundraising elements to them, and Bryce entered the Etape Caledonia in Perthshire while raising hundreds of pounds for Marie Curie. He is also slated to enter the Etape Loch Ness later this year, raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support.
While Bryce entered those individually, he was also part of the community of the Qeltic Games – a grassroots multi-sport event bringing together LGBTQI+ sports teams, athletes and allies from across the UK and Ireland.
There he played pickleball, and won a medal after finishing third with his doubles partner.
“The Etape Loch Ness is at the end of April, but because the weather has been terrible I haven’t been out on my bike that much so I’ve had to train indoors instead,” he said.
“I did the one in Perthshire last year, and there were a lot of hills but I made it all the way around and raised about £400 for Marie Curie, which is enough to provide three overnight care packages for people who want to stay at home rather than go into hospital. I was quite proud of myself for that – even though it’s not a huge amount of money. People were really generous to help me out.
“The hardest bit was eating enough to keep going, so I think I will be able to make it around one way or the other at Loch Ness, it’s just a question of how comfortable I will be. I’ll need to figure out what snacks are good to take, because my legs were struggling towards the end last time.
“Just over a year ago, I lost my mum to cancer, so on a personal level it’s important to me to do what I can to help other people who are going through a similar thing.
“I’ve always loved riding my bike, but I had never really done anything with it, so I thought I should just give the Perthshire one a try and see what happens.
“I had such a good time at the Qeltic Games too. It was great, because I just spent the whole day playing sport and being me, and not worrying about anything else.
“I got to meet loads of other LGBTQ+ folks, so I really enjoyed it. Hopefully it will run again.
“I had only played pickleball for a few weeks at that point, so I was in the beginners’ group, but me and my partner won a bronze medal. To be honest, it was a bit of a war of attrition to see who could stay standing the longest because it was so hot, but we got there in the end.
“I’ve got two medals, one from the Etape and one from the Qeltic Games. 2024 was a good year! It’s funny to think about, but maybe I’ve always been this person and just not fully lived it before, but now I am.”
Throwing himself headfirst into so many different sports and physical challenges certainly seems like a departure from the non-competitive youngster who passed up opportunities to take part in sports like tennis.
That is a testament to the positives Bryce has found from entering those spaces, both socially and physically, and he is determined not to let other opportunities pass him by.
“This is the problem, I want to do everything now,” he added.
“I never really thought I would be this sporty person, because I do get quite socially anxious sometimes. I can be a bit shy, and having only moved to Dundee last year I’ve made friends through doing these sports, which has helped me settle in a lot more. I’m connected to people here, and I feel part of something.
“I think I just always thought you need to be quite good at things to do them, but now I know that’s not true.
“Now I’m living much more as who I am, I have more confidence to go and try things, and if I don’t like them I don’t have to do them again.
“Sport has helped with my social anxiety because I’m doing something. Sometimes queer spaces can be based around going to a club, or drinking, which is fine once in a while but it’s not really my thing.
“I would find it quite difficult to sit around with a bunch of people who I don’t know at all and keep a conversation going, but if you’re doing something at the same time conversation naturally just comes out of that.
“I think I have surprised myself, and I think that just from having lost a few people – my mum, and then a friend, and a couple of close friends have also lost parents recently – I’ve started to think that I don’t want to say I’ll do things later.
“If I’m not going to do it now, when am I going to do it? There is so much out there, why stifle yourself? If you give it a try, you don’t have to go back but at least you’ll know it’s not for you.
“I work in a hospital with people who can be very unwell sometimes, so you also see that life is so precious. I want to fill it up with living and doing things as much as I can.”
Pride of the Terraces 
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