Thanks everyone for a great season of softball !

Thanks for your flexibility and willingness to play at a new park and as always make the best of all situations. I especially want to recognize our COACHES who make this league what it is with their love of the players, the game,and for giving their time. I want to Thank Coach Mickey Mittong for being there for me since day 1 coaching softball and running the volleyball league. Congrats on your successful business and know that we will miss you since you are retiring from DWSL. xoxoxo.

And I will post info on a Coaches meeting in the beginning of August……So til then be safe have fun!! love, Sarge

Welcome to the new Decatur Women’s Sports League web site. Here you will find the latest news, updates, and league schedules. We hope you enjoy the new website design and all of the new features!

GA Voice
BY TRISTAN SKYE
JANUARY 07, 2011 00:00

The Decatur Women’s Sports League first began in March 2007. With softball as the initial sport, 200 happy lesbians (and allies) finally found a league of their own. From that point on, the sports interest grew and additions were made that included bowling, basketball, tennis, volleyball and badminton.

“With much diversity and a cooperative spirit these women all played recreation ball, made friends, got exercise and donated money to the Atlanta Lesbian Health Initiative to help underinsured women to go to the doctor and receive mammograms and health care,” says Anne “Sarge” Barr, founder and commissioner of the league.

The Atlanta Lesbian Health Initiative honored Barr with its 2008 “Healing Angel” award for her work with the sports league and the money it has raised. As of Fall 2010, the Decatur Women’s Sports League has donated $50,000 to the health initiative.

ALHI has also honored Barr as one of it its “Real Women” of the month. “Anne Barr’s own healing journey through sports began as a little girl who attended a strict Catholic school, and who, after a few short years, was no longer allowed to play with the boys because she was, after all, a girl,” ALHI notes on its website. “When finally at age nine she was allowed to play on a girls’ softball team, her tomboy spirit joyfully blossomed again.”

Now Barr also enjoys helping relationships blossom between lesbians and the general community through interactions with the sports league.

“Working with the community and building bridges and relationships with the City of Decatur and Dekalb County Recreation Departments, as well as some local churches who have assisted in renting us gyms when needed, has been a great blessing,” Barr says. “I am proud of this league for representing us in a way that others welcome us and join us in a positive effort to improve lives.”

Basketball is currently underway and runs through Jan. 27 and bowling started Jan. 5. Softball resumes in March.

“We are one big family and we look to grow with soccer and kickball coming also,” Barr says.

By Project Q Atlanta | Sep 4, 2008

It’s not every time you get to rub elbows with the head of the WNBA and the president of the Atlanta City Council. Or get paraded across center court before a sold out crowd at Philips Arena.

But that’s where Anne Barr found herself last Friday, among 20 women from across metro Atlanta named “Women of Inspiration” by the Atlanta Dream. Barr, the founder of the Decatur Women’s Sports League, was honored for her work in creating the league and its donations to the Atlanta Lesbian Health Initiative.

Anne Barr has worked in numerous organizations, leagues and clubs sacrificing her time and her expertise with the ultimate goal of making the world a better place. She helps women find their personal pride, allowing them to shed self-doubt and creating a new strength. This strength is contagious; the women she has touched reach out to others and move forward with Anne’s mission.

Donna Orender, the WNBA’s president, and Lisa Borders, president of the Atlanta City Council, handed out awards to Barr and other women during a pre-game ceremony. At halftime, they were recognized again on the court before an appearance by Jarvis, an R&B artist who is signed with Ludacris, an artist and local restaurant owner.

Barr launched the Decatur Women’s Sports League in early 2007 with a softball league. The overwhelming response quickly prompted an expansion and the sports league added bowling, basketball and tennis. In fact, a new season of softball opens on Sept. 5.

For a Project Q Atlanta gallery of photos from the event, go here.