A-LISTS community spotlight
Growing up on the picturesque sands of Clearwater, Florida, Hans Laursen had
a lot of fun activities to choose from.
Hans says, “I played soccer when I was 5 for about a year but I was kind of turned
off by it. It wasn’t something I was really interested in at the time or many other
sports. But as I got older, I realized that I didn’t have the right kind of motivation
and training or I wouldn’t have shied away from it so much. I got more into indi-
vidual sports as I got older. I played the trumpet in the band and was basically
a bookworm interested in history, which ended up being one of my majors in
college along with chemistry.” As a young adult, Dr. Laursen attended The Uni-
versity of Florida for his undergrad and graduated medical school at the Kirksville
College of Osteopathic Medicine in Missouri. It was at that time that Hans decided
to give soccer another try. Hans elaborates, “I did a little bit of soccer in undergrad
with the pre-med/coed intramurals. About the age of 30, I thought it was time I
did something different. Soccer seemed like an area that always kind of ‘sat’ with
me that I didn’t really like, so I decided to go back into it. I thought, now I have time
to get better at something like that.”
In 2003 Hans decided to move to Southern California. He says, “I always liked the
weather and thought it was a more accepting environment. I didn’t really like the
humidity in Florida.” Continuing on with his soccer, at the end of 2007, Hans had
met Eddie Velasquez at practice in West Hollywood. Hans adds, “We talked about
why there isn’t a team in Long Beach and in the beginning of 2008 we started get-
ting a list of names of people who might be interested together. We started having
practices and gradually evolved into a team.” Long Beach Waverunners Football
Club was officially incorporated at the end of 2008. Hans continues,” We chose
the name Waverunners because we wanted something aquatic and because we
Dr. Hans Laursen:
live in Long Beach. We narrowed it down from a list of about 50 possible team
names while sitting at the booth at Long Beach Pride 2008. We’re now fielding
KicKing Up two different teams (morning and afternoon) in the football league because we
The Long Beach Scene have so many people involved!”
Long Beach Waverunners Football Club Long Beach Waverunners Football Club is made up of 80 percent gay and 20
by lance perkins
percent straight team members. The members encompass the southern part of
L.A. and Orange County region and play different teams each week. Hans explains,
“We play each team three times throughout the season. There are about 25 games.
We are the only gay team. We’ve played friendly matches with the San Diego and
West Hollywood teams and we are also coordinating a future fundraiser with the
West Hollywood team. So we have pretty good relations with both.”Waverunners’
next fundraiser will be held at 7:00 p.m. to midnight on Saturday February 6th at
The Paradise in Long Beach. Sporting a Mardi Gras theme, they will have beads, a
beer bust and a huge raffle with a grand prize to be announced. Hans says, “This
fundraiser will help us with equipment, registration fees and any upcoming
tournaments we decide to enter later this year. It’s a really good group. We do a
lot of social events together. That was the main reason I started Waverunners. I
wanted to be in the kind of environment where you can meet people outside of
the bar scene or the Internet. You can meet people in your age group with the
same interest. We’ve had a booth at the last couple Long Beach Pride festivals and
I think we may be running one of the beer tents this year.”Hans is also planning on
taking the team to the Gay Games 2014 in Cleveland, Ohio.
Dr. Hans Laursen currently works in the urgent care of the ER in San Diego.
He commutes back and forth from San Diego to Long Beach. He explains, “My
job moved to San Diego two years ago, but I’ve stuck with it. I’m in Long Beach a
couple days a week and my boyfriend lives in San Diego.”
Practices are open to all people interested and all skill levels. Teams are co-
ed. Practices are usually on Wednesday nights at 6:30 p.m. located at Whaley
Park in Long Beach. To get involved or for more info call 310.691.3698 or
visit
longbeachgaysoccer.com.
8 RAGE monthly | February 2010
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80