Winning One for the Team

Back-to-back-to-back volleyball matches in the hot summer sun. Grueling multi-day tournaments that string together several softball games per day. Swim meets with multiple heats for several events over the course of 48 hours.

This is the life for the many weekend warriors who belong to LGBT and other adult sports leagues around the world. For HIV-negative athletes, it's a walk in the park. Their bodies aren't compromised by HIV and their health isn't impaired by regimens of multiple drugs.

For people with HIV It can be the same experience; if, that is, they are smart about their medical care and take care of their bodies. For some, however, the grueling demands of gay sports tournaments can complicate their health and raise some issues other teammates don't face.

"HIV is a whole spectrum of conditions," explained Dr. Jay Gladstein, a primary care doctor in West Hollywood, Calif. "HIV can be as asymptomatic as having chicken pox virus in our body. Or it can be a the other end of the spectrum and there can be symptoms of AIDS that mean a compromised immune system. You can't really generalize about what it means to have HIV because there isn't just one condition of HIV."

What is holding back many pozzers from playing sports are social and psychological implications associated with HIV rather than anything specific to their personal health, he added: "A lot of them don't necessarily have a lot of restrictions in terms of exercise," Gladstein said. "But a lot of people who've contracted HIV are still really traumatized by the experience, and they still think of themselves as disabled.

"HIV," he emphasized, "is no longer the disabling condition that it was once thought to be." In other words, HIV itself is no excuse for not playing a sport you love.

Brett Klein, who works with the Desert AIDS Project, contracted HIV back in the 1990s. He plays competitive volleyball and participates in AIDS Life Cycle that takes bicyclists on a grueling marathon of hundreds of miles in a few days.

He participated one year even when his platelet count was severely low. "Just wear your helmet," the doctor told him. "You'll be fine."

That doesn't mean that it won't affect teammates and opponents. Despite the lessons we learned from Greg Louganis about the disease's demise when it hits the water, not to mention Magic Johnson playing in tournaments after he revealed that he was positive, even gay men sometimes believe that infection is possible from a contact sport.

Shamey Cramer, who has played tournament water polo for over a decade, has noticed how differently he is guarded when the opposing team has been made ware that he has HIV.

"I always felt there was a little discrimination, even in a scrimmage," Cramer said. "They wouldn't guard me as well as they should have been." Cramer added, "If you're playing a contact sport, I'll use that to my advantage."

Taking Extra Care & A few Precautions

People with HIV do need to take care of themselves. All athletes need rest at night to recuperate. Whether it's volleyball or long rides on his bike, a lack of key recovery time, food and liquids can spell disaster.

These things become much more important if you're HIV positive. Since contracting the disease, Klein has needed to take more naps. He manages his rest carefully.

During a weekend volleyball tournament, he considers carefully who his roommate is. Better to share a room with a teammate who won't spoil his needed rest, he figures, than a party boy.

He manages playing time just as carefully. After 10 minutes on the court, he will sub out of a game, recover, and often have something to eat or drink. Klein also used to recuperate more efficiently at night. And he notices that he does flag faster than comparable other athletes.

"Your body can quickly take a turn for the worse, before you know it, just by riding an extra five miles," Klein said. "The average person can just push through it. I just can't go play volleyball for three hours," Klein said. "I need to think carefully about what food and liquids I'm bringing, when I take my meds, how much Gatorade I'm bringing. I used to just be able to go play. Now, it just takes more thought and planning."

The key, as in all things related to HIV, is staying on top of meds. Missing one or two days, or taking medication at the wrong time without the right amount of food, leaves Klein compromised.

Every drug has side effects. Which sport and that league's tournament schedule should be considered because those can be factors in the severity of drug interactions.

The common HIV drug Truvada, for example, can compromise bone mineral density. For a swimmer, it's not a big deal. But it could be for someone playing rugby, where broken bones go hand-in-hand with playing the sport.

People on a drug whose effects would be more pronounced in a given sport may want to consider talking to their doctor about switching medications rather than giving up exercise by doing something they love.

Longtime Survival Issues, Psychological Benefits

The issues become more complicated for those who started drugs in the '80s and '90s. Both the length of exposure to the disease and the toxic nature of many of the drugs popular at that time left many people living with HIV for over two decades with increased rates of dementia, pulmonary scarring and pain and tingling in the extremities.

Longtime survivors of HIV need to have a serious conversation with their doctor before diving into a sport. HIV-positive since 1985, Cramer eschewed any meds for 11 years. Doing so was a gamble, but it helped him dodge the bullet of some toxic meds.

A cyclist when he first contracted HIV in 1985, Cramer switched to water polo in 2000 and won a bronze medal at the Gay Games in Cologne, Germany.

When he retired from competition (he is now officer of ceremonies for the Federation of Gay Games), he was fatigued at times. But he's not sure it was attributable to HIV or the one "disease" to which everyone eventually succumbs, aging.

"I was 50 years old and I had a virus in my body that was older than half of my teammates," Cramer said. "It's hard to say whether I was tired because of the virus or my age."

The psychological benefits of being part of a team can be crucial for people with HIV.

Everyone benefits from the camaraderie and collective spirit of a sports team. But for pozzers struggling with issues like depression, social stigma or rejection by loved ones, sports leagues and tournaments get them to exert themselves physically -- a mood elevator if ever there was one -- while providing them with an instant circle of like-minded people.

Finding friendship outside of the bars and clubs can be daunting in the gay world. Team sports offer a healthy alternative. "With the straight sports leagues, you often just show up and play together," Klein said. "But with gay sports, you really get to know your team. When you're doing stuff, the team is a unit. You do a fundraiser together, you go to the bars together."

That said, the same thing applies to heterosexuals with HIV, who can suffer even more stigma in their communities or among family members. Often shunned by former friends, they can find in adult team sports a much-needed source of belonging. That goes for men and women.

Everyone with HIV is in a battle against the virus. It's much easier to face an opponent that powerful with a team at your side.

This story is part of our special report: "Keeping Fit with HIV". Want to read more? Here's the full list.