When I come out, my soccer team will know. What are your experiences with coming out to sports teams? (preferably soccer; I feel soccer would get a better reaction than football). How do they treat you? Have some of them ignored you, or just accepted you and went with it?
iirc you're 14 right? It really depends on how mature they are and if they're accepting open-minded people or not. In my experience in football teams I was in at 14... some of the guys were very immature and just dicks... so I wouldn't have come out to them under ANY circumstances. But it depends on the people on your team. If they're good, mature kids and your friend, they should be fine. You need to judge it for yourself.
It's more about how they are as people, than the fact that they're on the soccer team. If they're mature enough about it, fine. If you're 14 like your profile says, I honestly wouldn't recommend it. No offence, but 14 year old boys tend to not be very mature If you have close friends on the team you could come out to them though. Individually.
Individuals can be smart (some are dumb/ignorant)..but mobs tend to almost always be dumber than their dumbest member.. My suggestion is to be honest if they ask, give them nowhere to go. But at 14, you are likely to get harassed by some people.... One trick I learned was to get in with the more respected people in the group. Be a good guy, a team player and work on building friendships with them. When the poo hits the fan, you'll find out if those relationships are worth the time, but you may discover that because they are respected, the group as a whole will tend to follow their lead, if they like you, then others will as well. But you're 14....<sigh> I dunno if that will work, but it is worth a shot.. Why will your whole team know when you come out? are you making a public announcement at school or something?
Hyaline is right. If you have strong friendships and treat everyone with respect, that will pay dividends. You could even come out to the ones who are closest to you. However, being teens, you can't trust they will keep it a secret for long. I was never part of a sports team, but I did have some friends who were, and I felt it was the guys who were most mature and secure in their masculinity who weren't homophobic.
