Skateboarder Taylor Silverman explained how at a skateboarding competition Swimmer Riley Gaines explained how “On March 19th Thomas and I raced and touched the wall at the exact same time down to the hundredth but the NCAA handed the trophy to Thomas for “photo purposes,” promising to send her one in the mail. Volleyball player Macy Petty explained how “In high school, I was forced to play my sport against a male athlete who chose to play on a women’s net…while being examined by college recruiters we had the ball slammed in our faces.” “What we witnessed was the casual manner in which women can be tossed aside and silenced. Jones recalled “Mandatory meetings asking young women to be silent and to clear their words with department leadership” “handouts telling the ivy league swimmers to let the men in charge determine their fate and accept it without complaint,” “messages and emails to seek counseling if a young woman doesn’t want to undress in front of a man ” “announcements at every dual meet threatening compliance or being labeled hateful if you believe women should not have to compare their physical bodies next to males.” Jones discussed how she witnessed “mothers in stands crumple over in tears and fathers who could not bear to watch” as Lia Thomas dominated women in swimming. Signatures came from “Olympic gold and silver medalists, NCAA Women of the Year, multiple NCAA champions, 6-time NCAA Coach of the Year, a 5-time Olympic Coach, and dozens of NCAA All-Americans” but “As of today, it has been 95 days since we sent this to the NCAA with no response whatsoever.” “I was asked by a teammate to write a collaborative letter on behalf of the University of Arizona swim team alumni for members of the team over generations to sign in protest of the guidelines that allowed a male swimmer to compete directly with females at the recent NCAA Swim Championships.” On the first day of the inaugural ICONS conference, Jones and Smith shared their personal narratives, which were followed by those of other female athletes. Hopefully, with enough conferences like ICONS we can convince others to not be afraid to say what is obvious: that men are not women and that men in women’s sports is unfair. The trick is not to get Americans to change their minds on this issue. Smith also told attendees that ICONS was intentionally set to take place at the same time as NACDA at a nearby hotel. Smith had stealthily obtained a table at NACDA. ![]() My experience paralleled that of Marshi Smith, who told the audience of ICONS that she had received many private gestures of support from attendees of the nearby National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) conference. My driver, a middle-aged man, politely listened to me talk and, once we arrived at the hotel, stepped out to personally shake my hand and thank me for the work I was doing for women. I braced for a possible confrontation when I explained that I was attending a conference on the importance of keeping women’s sports single-sex. Smith was inspired to create a conference after hearing from five-time Olympic coach Dennis Pursley, about how “his experience with the East Germans” led him to create a press conference.Īs I drove to the Ahern Hotel, I was hesitant to answer when my Uber driver asked me what my plans in Vegas were. ![]() Jones has a daughter who swims in the Ivy League. ICONS was co-founded by two former athletes Marshi Smith and Kim Jones. Notable speakers included tennis superstar Martina Navratilova and Olympic champions Inga Thompson, Benita Mosley, Donna De Varona, and Sue Walsh. ![]() Powerful speakers, including outstanding athletes, scientists, lawyers, and advocacy groups from across the political spectrum all emphasized that including male athletes in women’s sports presents a threat to both fairness and safety for women. The purpose of the conference was to keep women’s sports single-sex, despite growing pressure from advocates of gender ideology to replace sex categories in sport with categories based on gender identity. From June 26th through 28th, I attended the first conference run by the nonpartisan Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS) as a representative of WoLF in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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