On Mother’s Day weekend Team Fenom finds it fitting to participate in the Susan G. Komen Atlanta Race for the Cure, a run/walk dedicated to saving lives and ending breast cancer forever. On Saturday, May 11 Team Fenom united with 100 other companies and approximately 13,000 participants to “run cancer out of town.” The annual event is dedicated to breast cancer survivors; we honor those touched by breast cancer, celebrating survivors and remembering loved ones who courageously battled the deadly disease.

One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. Unfortunately most of us have loved ones who know firsthand the importance of funds for breast cancer research and treatment. Thanks to supporters like you, Team Fenom has raised over $4,000 for the cause and had 67 total race participants including 22 on Saturday. We also appreciate our sponsor Mizuno for their ongoing support of Team Fenom in the fight against breast cancer. We will continue to collect tax-deductible donations for Susan G. Komen for the Cure through May 31.

About Susan G. Komen for the Cure Greater Atlanta Affiliate

Komen Atlanta is the local resource for breast cancer screening, diagnostic and support services. Through events, including the Race for the Cure, and contributions, the Affiliate raises funds to enable women to detect and survive breast cancer. Seventy-five percent of all funds stay in Atlanta to provide breast health services for women who could not otherwise afford them. Twenty-five percent supports national research efforts to finding a cure. Komen Atlanta has raised more than $35 million since its inception in 1991. The Affiliate is part of the national Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization, which strives to save lives and end breast cancer forever. Komen is the largest private funder in the fight against breast cancer and has invested nearly $2 billion toward the cause.

Accountability Partner – Today much of the health and fitness information that personal trainers provide is available for free on the Web. You aren’t getting the most for your money if your sessions are only “educational.” However, paying for exercise accountability is a good use of your funds. Knowing that someone will hold you accountable during a scheduled workout can help you remain committed.

Role model – Why take instruction from someone who is not fit? When an “out of shape” personal trainer gives me advice, this tells me one of two things. The advice doesn’t work or it is unrealistic, otherwise they would follow it! I believe the best way your personal trainer can motivate you is by being a living example—so look for a role model who can inspire you!

Happy Clients – Research the personal trainer’s client satisfaction. History is the best predictor of the future so check before signing an agreement. Is the trainer reliable? Are they abreast of the latest workouts? Is the trainer punctual? Will they push you to your personal best?

Workout Buddy – There is nothing I dislike more than witnessing a personal training session where the trainer is literally sitting down on the floor instructing while the client is doing repetitions. Your trainer should complete a few repetitions to demonstrate and motivate you. That’s what you pay them for!

Hip & Equipped – Before you hire a personal trainer, check their certifications. Personally, I find AFAA, ACE, and NASM to be the most credible certifications. Also, you don’t want to pay for personal training if you’re doing the same basic workouts that you have already mastered or could complete on your own. Ask your personal trainer about the latest fitness trends and what they think will work for you. Your workouts should be effective but also engaging!

The mind is a strong tool and will do whatever it is commanded to do.  One has to consider that the mind can only hold one thought at a time. It can either be positive or negative. If we think negatively that is how we will “react”. If we think positively that is how we will “act”. What we want to happen in life often dictates how we live and what kinds of things and people are drawn to us. The following story is a great illustration of this principle:

“A rural church in the middle of farming country had a special service to pray for rain. A drought had hit the area hard, and the farmers and community were suffering financially and spiritually. Many people came to the service to pray and, as the pastor looked out over the crowd he was encouraged. However, the thing that inspired him most was a little girl sitting in the front pew, holding a bright red umbrella. Everyone had come to pray for rain, but only the little girl believed enough to bring an umbrella.”

There’s a quote from James Allen in his book As a Man Thinketh where he said, “A person is limited only by the thoughts that he chooses.” Sometimes we coaches don’t apply this to our own work. For example, when we tell our players to “close their eyes and see the basketball going through the hoop” we are trying to help them build their confidence by picturing success. Have you ever pictured yourself diagramming a play at the end of a game, having that play work and winning the game? Do you ever see yourself celebrating because you’ve just defeated your biggest rival, won a conference championship, or even a national championship?

Believing is seeing. When we transfer that to some of the most basic components of our programs we can see how effective visualization can be. Recruiting is a great example. The kids we recruit can see through deception and insincerity. If you don’t believe in or are not excited about your program they will know. If you go into their home and communicate a clear concise vision that shows you believe in what you want to accomplish, they will see your passion. They will pick up on your positive energy and want to play for you.

Visualization is a fundamental that should be practiced consistently. If we expect our players to perform successfully under pressure they need to know we have confidence in our own ability to help them get the job done. I use the time I exercise every day to imagine myself in successful scenarios. I create the scenario, speak the dialogue and script the body language. You must see yourself as a winning coach on a daily basis. As James Allen says, “A man can only rise, conquer, and achieve by lifting up his thoughts.” Take a few minutes every day and picture yourself succeeding at some aspect of the game. And don’t forget to bring your umbrella.

Coach Helen Williams has over 25 years of college sports experience. In her new book, “Coach Like A Mother: A Guide For The 21st Century Sports Coach,” Williams shares her diverse experiences. Coaches of various sports at every level can gain valuable coaching lessons. Buy your printed copy from Williams’ website today! An ebook version is available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Featured photo credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE

Since then, Fox has interviewed with everyone from Inside MMA to Canada’s CBC Radio, telling and retelling the most intimate details of her history, psychology, and biology. By the time I was asked to speak with her for Team Fenom, I’d read about everything from her surgeries to her hormonal profile to her upbringing in a conservative Christian home. The one thing that nobody seemed to be talking about was that though there was an element of sensationalism to the coverage of her story, Fox was being subjected to the exact same treatment in the press and popular opinion as many other female athletes.

I caught up with Fox by Skype to talk about what it means to be a female competitor in America today.

Team Fenom (TF): You were quoted in Outsports saying, “I consider myself a woman. I happen to fall into the transgender category, but I rather describe myself as a woman first, transsexual woman second.”

You say that you’re afraid of losing your identity as a woman, an identity that you’ve fostered since your transition in 2006.

Can you tell me about the experience of having to undergo an assessment of your sex and identity for a second time?

Fallon Fox (FF): I haven’t had to deal with anything of this nature in a long time. For the past six years I’ve just been living pretty much as any normal female has. I haven’t had to deal with any of these issues, any second-guessing of my biology or anything. It’s been wonderful. For the past six years I’ve been able to live pretty much as any other woman.

As I said in the CBC interview, that’s gone now. It sucks. (Laughs) It’s just something I have to deal with.

TF: Now that you’ve come out, your case is under review in regards to whether you’ll be allowed to continue to fight. This process is itself an audit of your status, and by extension, an examination of the ideas of what it means to be female, and specifically, what it means to compete as a female.

FF: As of right now my Florida license is valid. I could go to Florida right now and have a professional MMA fight if I wanted to. They haven’t revoked it; they haven’t suspended it or anything.

TF: I was thinking about how all female athletes are subject to a level of monitoring and restriction that male athletes aren’t. I’m thinking about [South African runner who was sex-tested after her victory at the 2009 World Championships] Caster Semenya here, and I’ll offer a counter-example, Yao Ming, who was a 7’6” basketball player. He surely had an advantage during his career but his extraordinary height was seen as good luck, an anomaly, but not as unfair.

Do you think that the handicapping of female athletes—trans or not—ultimately limits women’s physical achievements?

FF: Does it limit all women’s physical achievements? It depends. If there is a women who is highly athletic per se I’m quite sure that she’s always going to be looked at as, “She’s on steroids” or something like that. Even if she’s not and has passed drug tests.

And it’s not just that. It’s how she’s perceived to look. So say you have a female athlete who happens to be—say, a butch lesbian—or who just happens to not fit the stereotypical ideal of what a woman “should” look like. If she’s not feminine … she’s going to be looked at as an “other” or not as female as the other athletes.

There’s a big thing right now. They want to hire female fighters who happen to be feminine and straight—or at least look feminine. And it’s harder for women to find fights with promotions, who happen to be butch lesbians, you know what I’m saying?

TF: Yeah, the Williams sisters are a good example of that. They are hyper-feminine in some ways but strong and “masculine” in others … there’s this dichotomy at play where female athletes need to be both, where appearances are simply not all that important for male athletes.

FF: It’s not important at all! You can look like anything. You can have a big scar running across your face and actually you’ll probably be applauded for that. Like, “Look at him—he’s tough.”

TF: And in terms of combat sports … certainly there’s this idea that—you see it with wrestling—where almost by default if you’re a woman in one of these sports you have to kind of hyper-feminize yourself to make up for being outside of this gender norm.

FF: Exactly. It’s tough.

TF: What kind of strategies or education or policy changes do you think could help foster women’s achievements in sports and make room for all of our diversity?

FF: I think education, number one. Just inform people that we have different body styles and different body structures, and yes, some of us are going to be highly athletic and we should be praised for our athleticism and our techniques and our achievements and not downgraded for what we’ve accomplished.

TF: Is there anything that you want to say to the people who refuse to acknowledge that you’re a woman?

FF: I just think they need education. A lot of them are going to have a bias and the only way to change their mind or to let them know that I am a woman is through education. There is no other way.

They have to look into the science behind what happens to a person when they transition from male to female—and they need to look up the psychology behind why a person would transition in the first place. I think that’s the main thing—they don’t understand why I would do this and some of them think I am just some crazy guy who wants to get into a cage and beat up women. I’ve heard that around on the Internet a lot, or that I do it for sexual reasons.

I’ve heard some people say, “It’s okay if you want to be female in the bedroom and we’ll call you a female and this and that but when it comes to anything else—no. You’re a guy.” It makes no sense at all.

TF: That comment came from Joe Rogan who, if I understand correctly, is kind of a big commentator in the sport. I watched the clip and know what you’re talking about. It’s very frustrating and so incredibly ignorant, and unfortunate that he has such a large audience.

FF: Right. And it’s sad because he said those things and then people were right behind him, and what a lot of people don’t realize is what he said was completely misogynistic. That a woman is made to be held down and bear children? [Ed. note: Rogan said, “Women are made to be held down by the stronger monkey. Women are built for carrying babies and doing work and whatever other non-hyper-explosive physical things you would want to do with your body.”] I couldn’t believe the words came out of his mouth.

But you know. It happens. Those are the thing we have to deal with.

In the days since I spoke with Fox, I’ve thought a lot about how gender and sports are involved, and about the challenges that all women in sport have in common, but as I transcribed the tape I grappled with a nagging feeling that I’d missed something. Two days after the interview, I realized what it was.

On March 22, 2013, MMA fighter Peggy Morgan and her trainer, John Fain, released a YouTube video to “give their stance” on Fallon Fox. “Fallon Fox is not Rosa Parks,” Fain—a white man— says sitting next to his white fighter.

Fallon Fox is not only a trans woman; she is also, like Caster Semenya and both Venus and Serena Williams, a black woman. In modern day America, this means that she is twice as suspect, and twice burdened with a political battle she never chose to embody.

Having spoken with her for half an hour, though, I’m confident that she’s strong enough to shoulder it.

Fallon Fox notified Team Fenom today stating that the Florida State Boxing Commission closed its investigation and confirmed that her Florida license is valid. Her next bout is May 24^th versus Allana Jones. Jones committed to the fight prior to the commission’s decision.

Ming, Semenya, and Williams photo credit: USA TODAY Sports
All other photos: Fallon Fox

Fallon Fox is featured in an upcoming documentary about the coming out process of professional and college LGBT athletes. Preview Game Face: Fallon Fox documentary about the trans MMA fighter

NASHVILLE, Tenn. –  On Opening Day for Major League Baseball, official development partner National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) held its 2013 College Draft. The professional women’s fastpitch softball league is headquartered in Nashville, Tenn. and currently has four teams. USSSA Florida Pride (Kissimmee, Fla.) won the 2012 Ringor Cup regular season title. Its star-studded roster boasts nine former Olympians including Cat Osterman. The Chicago Bandits (Rosemont, Ill.)  are the winningest franchise in NPF history, while the Akron Racers (Akron, Ohio) are the league’s most experienced and longest-tenured organization. The New York/New Jersey Comets (Bridgewater, N.J) is a new NPF franchise with four home stadiums in NY, NJ, and PA. The Comets’ roster primarily consists of players from the former Carolina Diamonds organization.

The NPF College Draft, presented by BOWNET, was held in downtown Nashville inside the Country Music Hall of Fame and was broadcast live on ESPN3. It featured five rounds of four selections, with all 20 draftees listed below.

Teams focused strictly on the mound in the first round. The Akron Racers selected Louisiana State University (LSU) All-American pitcher Rachele Fico as the No. 1 overall draft pick. Last season Fico was 20-13 with a 1.12 ERA and 221 strikeouts. Currently a finalist for 2013 USA Softball Player of the Year, Fico has already hurled 733 strikeouts in her collegiate career, fourth-most in LSU history.

Courtesy of Steve Franz/LSU

Pitchers Olivia Galati (Hofstra), Jolene Henderson (Cal), and Keilani Ricketts (Oklahoma) were also drafted in the first round.

The Big 12 Conference and Southeastern Conference (SEC) dominated the draft. Five Big 12 players were drafted, including all four seniors from No. 1 ranked Oklahoma, while seven athletes were selected from the SEC. For the fourth consecutive year the number one overall pick came out of the SEC, and specifically from LSU for the second straight year, as Brittany Mack was drafted by the USSSA Florida Pride in 2012.

“For NPF to be successful, it’s absolutely vital that we continue to attract the top college softball players, and I’m pleased to see that a lot of those names were called in the draft,” said NPF Commissioner Cheri Kempf. “As many of the league’s Olympic stars move on from the game, we must pass the torch to a new generation of elite softball players and I’m excited to see this top-notch group of players join the league. I’m confident that this class of rookies will help strengthen the growing popularity of professional fastpitch softball.”

The 2013 NPF draft class certainly has the talent to strengthen women’s professional softball. As spectators, we all should support National Pro FastPitch by purchasing seats in the bleachers and tuning in to televised games.

Courtesy of National Pro Fastpitch Akron Racers

Team Fenom had the pleasure of attending the draft and speaking with Commissioner Kempf, league owners including Chicago Bandits’ Bill Sokolis, NPF Co-Defensive Player of the Year Kelley Montalvo, and loyal softball supporter Shay Underwood. It did not take long to sense their passion for the sport and commitment to assist in its growth. Team Fenom also observed enthusiastic youth in attendance who could be a future Osterman, Montalvo or Monica Abbott—that is if they receive the support they need and fans and other proponents assist in the league’s sustainability.

The NPF celebrates its 10^th anniversary this season. Opening Day is June 5. Teams will play an 88-game regular season schedule before traveling to Rosemont, Ill. for the Championship Series, which takes place August 22-24. The ESPN family of networks will carry 16 NPF games across ESPN2 and ESPN3 and all 16 will be available on WatchESPN.

See what NPF players, coaches and executives stated about the draft and league

NPF 2013 Draft Results 

First Round:

1. Rachele Fico, P, Akron Racers (LSU)
2. Olivia Galati, P, NY/NJ Comets (Hofstra)
3. Jolene Henderson, P, Chicago Bandits (Cal)
4. Keilani Ricketts, P, Oklahoma, USSSA Pride (Oklahoma)

Second Round:

5. Jessica Shults, C, USSSA Pride (Oklahoma)
6. Jessica Moore, P, NY/NJ Comets (Oregon)
7. Michelle Gascoigne, P, Chicago Bandits (Oklahoma)
8. Ivy Renfroe, P, Akron Racers (Tennessee)

Third Round:

9. Brianna Turang, OF, Akron Racers (Oklahoma)
10. Cyndil Matthew, OF, NY/NJ Comets (UMass)
11. Maggie Hull, OF, Chicago Bandits (Kansas)
12. Briana Cherry, OF, Akron Racers (La.-Lafayette)

Fourth Round:

13. Raven Chavanne, OF/3B, Chicago Bandits (Tennessee)
14. Samie Garcia, SS, NY/NJ Comets (South Carolina)
15. Mel Dumezich, P, Chicago Bandits (Texas A&M)
16. Tess Sito, U/P, Akron Racers (Georgia)

Fifth Round:

17. Bridgette Del Ponte, 3B/SS, Akron Racers (Arizona)
18. Courtney Liddle, 1B, NY/NJ Comets (Virginia Tech)
19. Jenna Marston, SS/C, Chicago Bandits (Missouri)
20. Chelsea Thomas, P, USSSA Pride (Missouri)

FvH is a campaign that seeks to make football (known as soccer in America) safe for all players at all levels, from recreational to professional leagues. Campaign efforts culminate every February, when players and fans from around the world are encouraged to host friendly matches and open discussions about homophobia and transphobia in sport. The Justin Campaign, an anti-homophobia organization named after Justin Fashanu, the U.K.’s first black footballer to earn a £1 million transfer fee, originally developed FvH in 2009. Fashanu came out as gay in the media in 1990, effectively ending his football career, and in 1998, he committed suicide.  In the first several years of the FvH initiative, organizers focused on advocating for a more inclusive game in leagues across the U.K. and Europe, but after the November 2012 murder of South African activist and footballer Sihle Sikoji, campaign organizers—a small group that includes me—decided to add an international element to the 2013 campaign.

VIEW THE INFOGRAPHIC HERE.  SIGN THE AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PETITION HERE.

I had been writing about human rights; soccer; and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) issues for many years before Sikoji was murdered. I knew that she was just the latest in a very long list of lesbians who had suffered gender-based violence in South Africa; I had been following and reporting on the issue since returning from that country in 2009.

South Africa has some of the most progressive equality laws in the world—it was the fifth country in the world and the first in Africa to legalize same-sex marriage—but the reality is that homophobic and gender-based violence is widespread. Black lesbians, especially, live in danger.

Homophobic rape, commonly (and incorrectly) referred to as “corrective” or “curative” rape in the media, is a violent crime specifically targeting lesbians or women perceived to be lesbian. In South Africa, football is still generally perceived to be a man’s sport; female footballers transgress gender expectations.

In 2008, women’s national football team midfielder Eudy Simelane was raped, tortured, and murdered. Her body was found not far from her family’s home in KwaThema Township. Simelane’s case was high profile and helped raise awareness throughout international communities. When Sihle Sikoji was murdered in 2012, there were at least 24 more township lesbians raped, nine of which were footballers. I state “at least” because we know that a mere fraction of these attacks are reported due to inadequate legal protection; the fear of reprisals or further violence at the hands of law enforcement also hinders reporting of such crimes. In many cases, attackers continue to live in the same communities as the women they’ve victimized.

With the realization that while homophobia in football is commonly thought of as hateful chanting from the stands, it can also be as savage as murder. Football v Homophobia decided to dedicate part of their 2013 effort to raising awareness of the issue. Working in cooperation with South African feminist advocacy groups Luleki Sizwe and Free Gender, and with photographer and activist Zanele Muholi, we collected data on known cases and produced our graphic. The intention is to raise awareness and increase international pressure on the South African government, in part by motivating viewers to sign an existing Amnesty International petition calling for justice for Noxolo Nogwaza, a footballer who was raped and murdered in 2011.

Crucially, the Football v Homophobia initiative relies on the understanding that footballers and fans all around the world feel that we are all part of one family. We are looking to our international football communities to stand against all homophobia, on and off the pitch.

VIEW THE INFOGRAPHIC HERE.  SIGN THE AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PETITION HERE.

Photo credit: Football v Homophobia

ESPN’s Jeremy Schaap speaks with South African women soccer players who say they were beaten and raped because they are lesbians. Editor’s note: This story and video contain mature subject matter.

ESPN.com story “Female Athletes Often Targets for Rape”