"You should be able to play": South Carolina HC Dawn Staley makes her stance known on transgender athletes competing in women's sports

South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball team head coach Dawn Staley will lead her undefeated team against the Iowa Hawkeyes and their star player Caitlin Clark in the National Championship game on Sunday.

Away from the championship game, Staley was asked during a press conference what she thought about transgender athletes competing in sports for the gender they identify with.

"If you consider yourself a woman and you want to play sports or vice versa, you should be able to play," she said.

The inclusion of transgender athletes in sports has become one of the biggest debates in recent years.

The main question surrounding this is whether those who are biologically male should be allowed to participate on a women's team because they identify as female.

There are many arguments both for and against allowing transgender athletes to compete in sports, but Staley has said that those who identify as women should be allowed to participate on a women's team.

What is the NCAA's policy on transgender athletes, and does it agree with Dawn Staley's comments?

The NCAA (the organization in charge of all college athletes) has changed its policy concerning transgender athletes.

Previously, the NCAA policy was focused on "inclusion" for transgender athletes.

In simple terms, the old policy allowed athletes who were on any form of hormone replacement therapy and who received an official diagnosis of gender dysphoria (formally gender identity disorder) to compete in the gender they identified with.

For those who are transgender but were not on any form of Hormone Replacement Therapy, the rules differed. If the athlete was a "Trans Male" (Biological Female), they were able to participate in either a male or female team.

However, if the athlete was a "Trans Female" (Biological Male), the rules stated that the athletes could participate in female sports but were not allowed to participate in men's sports. This rule led to incidents like the biologically male swimmer Lia Thomas of Penn State dominating against her female opponents.

These rules are similar to what Dawn Staley has said, but from this year on, they will be replaced.

Now, the NCAA will be copying the IOC and letting individual sports choose their rules concerning trans athletes.

"Like the Olympics, the updated NCAA policy calls for transgender participation for each sport to be determined by the policy for the national governing body of that sport, subject to ongoing review and recommendation by the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports to the Board of Governors," the NCAA said.

Additionally, trans athletes will now be subject to testosterone tests twice a year and four weeks after any national championship.

Do you agree with these new rules, or do you agree with Dawn Staley's comments? Let us know in the comment section.

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