I’ll admit it. The past couple of weeks this space has been somewhat lacking on coverage of GLBT sports in San Diego. You’ve read about how the wildfires affected the different leagues with active schedules and how Qualcomm was used as an evacuation site. You even read about my time at the gym. But it’s coverage of the local sports scene that I get paid for, and my young editor is quite the whip-cracker, so it’s back to work I go!

Sports and Thanksgiving go together like turkey and stuffing. Neither one is really any good without the other.

If you’re like me, on Turkey Day you’ll sit down on the couch and watch the Detroit Lions host the ageless Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers, just before slipping into a tryptophan coma for the rest of the afternoon.

But it’s not all about turkey and football. The weekend isn’t complete until I get in some competition of my own. Apparently I’m not alone.

As the only organized gay volleyball league in town, the San Diego Volleyball Association (SDVA) will host the annual San Diego Volleyball Classic this weekend, Nov. 23-25. This tournament has historically been one of the largest North American Gay Volleyball Association (NAGVA)-sanctioned events in the country and provides every level of competition, including B and BB, up to A and AA.

Pool play runs Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Balboa Activity Center (2145 Park Blvd.). Following pool play, the seeds will be posted at 9 p.m. at the host hotel, the Lafayette Hotel and Suites on El Cajon Boulevard.

Elimination play begins Sunday at 9 a.m. at the Balboa Activity Center and is expected to conclude by 7 p.m.

As is usually the case with Southern California tournaments, regardless of sport, most teams will hail from this region, with San Diego putting up 10 teams for competition. More than 35 total teams are expected to participate in the event, coming from as far as Calgary, Maui and Kansas City.

If you would like to play volleyball or know more about the league, direct your browser to www.sdva.net.

Each year the San Diego Tennis Federation (SDTF) holds its local Club Championships, a tournament in which only club members are allowed to compete. Each year the tournament happens in late October or early November. However, because of the wildfires, there was a minor hiccough in this year’s tourney. The singles portion of the championship was delayed because of poor air quality. The doubles draw, however, went off as scheduled two weeks ago, with a somewhat expected result in the Open Division.

Arguably the Federation’s best player, Matt Coin, together with his partner Jeff Worthington, won the Open championship, going 3-0 in round-robin play.

In the A Division, the combination of Mike Hagen and David Sheehan defeated Ken Pomeroy and J.R. Rivera, 6-3, 6-4 in the championship match. Ending in a copy-cat score, the B Division was taken by Min Lee and Doru Tifui, outlasting Mark McDonough and Ned Turner. The C Division doubles title was won by Wil Contreras and Roger Lowe, as they defeated Mike D’Elia and Ruben Guieb 6-3, 6-3.

The Singles portion of the tournament was finally able to take place this past weekend, but as of press time results were unavailable. For more information, visit the federation’s Web site at www.sdtf.org.

Now that the San Diego Sparks Soccer Club has moved up a division in its competitive, city-wide play, wins are a little harder to come by. One of the oldest sporting clubs in the city, it is also one of the only clubs that plays the majority of its matches against primarily heterosexual opponents.

Now four games into the 2007-2008 season, the team is still looking for its first W. However, the club has definitely proved it should be playing more competitive soccer, as the games have been anything but blowouts.

In the season opener, the Sparks dropped a close one, 2-1. The following week they tied, 0-0, with excellent goalie play against the SBFC Fusion by the club’s Keeper, who goes simply by Souleymayne. In week three, the club had another tie, 1-1, against Momentum, bringing its record to 0-1-2. However, in week four the club faltered a bit, losing 4-2. The bright spot in the game was the play of Sparks’ midfielder and assistant coach Eric. The club’s leading scorer so far with three goals on the year, he scored two of them in last week’s rematch against the Fusion.

The team is always looking for more players and supporters. It has open practices on Friday nights at Robb Field in Ocean Beach at 7 p.m. For more information, visit www.sparkssoccer.org or email sparkssoccer@gmail.com.

While the San Diego Hoops had a short delay in getting its season underway, the basketball league held its season-opening games last week at a nearly singed Alliant University in Scripps Ranch.

As the league plays its games on Thursday nights, it’s taking Thanksgiving week off, and play will resume on Nov. 29. Games will start at 7 p.m., and the schedule includes Morgan Stanley vs. Pomegranite. At 8 p.m. Urban Mo’s will play Colorworks, and at 9 p.m. Pecs will tip-off against Beach City Market.

There are a total of 14 weeks in the regular season, two weeks of playoffs, all leading up to the championship game, which will be played March 27, 2008. For more information about Hoops basketball, visit www.sdhoops.net.