South Carolina Gamecocks basketball coach Daybreak Staley sparked fierce reactions on social media Saturday after she was requested about transgender participation in ladies’s sports activities.
Staley and the Gamecocks outlasted N.C. State within the Remaining 4 Friday night time and can face Iowa within the nationwide championship Sunday. Throughout a press convention, OutKick’s Dan Zaksheske asked Staley her thoughts on the burning situation within the U.S.
“I’m of the opinion of, if you’re a woman, you should play. If you consider yourself a woman, and you want to play sports or vice versa, you should be able to play. That’s my opinion. You want me to go deeper?” she stated.
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South Carolina head coach Daybreak Staley watches from the bench throughout the first half of a Remaining 4 sport towards North Carolina State within the NCAA Match April 5, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Picture/Carolyn Kaster)
When requested whether or not she thought “transgender women should be able to participate in women’s college basketball,” Staley responded, “Yes.”
“That’s the question you want to ask, I’ll give you that. Yes, yes. So, now the barnstormer people are going to flood my timeline and be a distraction to me on one of the biggest days of our game, and I’m OK with that. I really am,” she added.
Staley’s remarks kicked off a debate on social media.
Riley Gaines, an OutKick contributor who hosts the “Gaines for Girls” podcast, shared her ideas.
“Dawn Staley knows perfectly well that men’s basketball is a totally different sport than women’s basketball,” she stated. “That’s obvious by the speed of the game, the size of the ball … the sheer amount of layups compared to dunks when a player gets a fast break.
“I ponder if Daybreak Staley additionally helps 18U enjoying with 12U, or heavyweights combating the featherweights or Olympians competing within the Paralympics. It all the time sucks seeing a well-established lady who has damaged limitations for ladies in sports activities flip right into a sellout within the title of ‘inclusion.’ The ladies’s class was created to be deliberately unique by design. Go Hawks.”
South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley watches from the bench during the second half of a Final Four game against North Carolina State in the women’s NCAA Tournament Friday, April 5, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Others gave their opinion on X.
South Carolina state Rep. Adam Morgan wrote, “Our tax {dollars} shouldn’t fund folks and applications pushing these embarrassing ideologies that contradict SC values.”
Piers Morgan wrote: “So by this logic, if LeBron says he’s a lady, he can play within the WNBA? Totally ridiculous.”
Former NFL player Chris Manno wrote, “Simply a completely ridiculous assertion. The issues these folks will say for self preservation is laughable. Think about in her day, Karl Malone or David Robinson awoke one morning and stated ‘I really feel like a lady immediately.’
“We’d have no idea who Dawn Staley is. Always funny to me how things become okay to those it has no influence upon.”
Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder talks to her workforce throughout a timeout within the first half of a Remaining 4 sport towards UConn within the ladies’s NCAA Match Friday, April 5, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Picture/Morry Gash)
Sports activities journalist Lindsay Gibbs added, “What an incredible moment to have the top coach of the top team on the biggest stage face the question head on and stand up for trans women. Dawn Staley is remarkable.”
Others praised Staley for her response.
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Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder was additionally requested the identical query. She stated her focus was on the national title game towards South Carolina, however the query was an “important issue” for “another time.”
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