Former ESPN host Sam Ponder says she's "maddened" by what she witnessed during her daughter's middle school basketball game in New York City — a matchup she claims involved a biological boy playing against girls.
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Ponder took to X to describe the experience, saying her daughter's team lost after facing what she called "an obviously naturally born boy" in a girls' tournament.
"It's happened many times now living in NYC," Ponder wrote. "Yet another basketball game today where my middle school daughter is guarding an obviously naturally born boy in a girls tournament.
"The parents cheer while the boy is physical and dominant against the girls. The all girls team loses."
Ponder continued, saying she's taught her children to respond with kindness, but admitted the situation left her angry.
"We've taught our kids to never make fun of the kid... to always be kind and loving," she said. "That the parents are the problem. That no kid is born in the wrong body.
"But if I'm honest, watching my daughter get posted up by a boy whose parents have deceived him in this way is maddening."
ENOUGH is what all of us should be saying!! Proud of this woman 👏🏼💪🏼 https://t.co/C23l9Sn2js
— Samantha Steele Ponder (@samponder) August 1, 2024
She added that she doesn't plan to move away from New York despite backlash.
"NYC is the greatest American city that has lost its way," she wrote. "I want to fight for truth and love. I don't want to give in to insanity and darkness. This is still America."
Ponder, who hosted Sunday NFL Countdown before being let go by ESPN last summer, has been outspoken about transgender participation in women's sports.
She said she's "not being paid for this honesty" and has "lost millions for it."
Ponder and her husband, former Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder, share three children: Bowden, Price, and Robinson.
