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Former ESPN employee Sam Ponder witnesses one of her strongest oppositions come to life before her own eyes.
Ponder said last month that it was “ridiculous” to see transgender athletes competing against biological women and girls in sports.
On Monday, Ponder took to social media, explaining that her middle school daughter was “babysitting an obviously natural born boy at a girls’ (basketball) tournament.”
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ESPN reporter Sam Ponder during the first quarter between the Florida State Seminoles and the Mississippi Rebels at Camping World Stadium. (Kim Klement/USA Today Sports)
“This has happened several times now in New York…Parents cheer while the boy is physical and dominant against the girls. The all-girls team loses,” Ponder posted on X.
“We taught our children to never make fun of the child… to always be kind and loving. That the parents are the problem. That no child is born in the wrong body. But if I’m honest, seeing my daughter get posted by a boy whose parents deceived him in this way is infuriating.”
Neither New York City nor the state has any regulations regarding trans athletes, but a legal battle is currently underway in Nassau County on Long Island.
Ponder responded to many X users by claiming that it wasn’t the “boy” in question who was to blame, but rather the parents.
Samantha Ponder, then a reporter for ESPN, was on hand during the first half of the 2013 BCS championship game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Alabama Crimson Tide at Sun Life Stadium on January 7, 2013. (Matthew Emmons/USA TODAY Sports)
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Ponder appeared on PK Press Club Channel “Saturday in America” with Kayleigh McEnany last month and spoke about her decision to speak out against transgender athletes participating in girls’ and women’s sports. The topic has been hotly debated in recent years, with Lia Thomas winning an NCAA title in 2022, and now the Trump administration demanding that U.S. schools comply with Title IX.
“There’s no way in this country, especially in sports, that you can say on your social media accounts, ‘I don’t think men should compete in women’s sports.’ It’s something — I talk to athletes all the time, 99.9 percent of professional athletes, like we know it’s ridiculous,” she said.
“And the fact that we haven’t been able to say it boldly — but with kindness and some humility — is insane. It’s insane that we’ve gotten to this point in sports that we just can’t be honest about what’s true and not be stupid but say, ‘Yeah, you don’t put a man in my daughter’s locker room. That’s not happening.'”
Samantha Ponder (yellow hat) watches her husband, then-Minnesota Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder (not pictured) at training camp at Blakeslee Fields on July 27, 2013. (Bruce Kluckhohn/USA TODAY Sports)
Transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s sports remain a major topic in 2025. President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning men from competing in girls’ and women’s sports in February. Since then, several states have thumbed their noses at this order.
