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Former ESPN host Samantha Ponder made her stance on men playing women’s and girls’ sports clear on Saturday.
Ponder appeared on Fox News Channel’s “Saturday in America” with Kayleigh McEnany and talked 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 U.S. schools to comply with Title IX.
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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)
“There is no way in this country, especially in sports, you shouldn’t be able to say on your social media accounts, ‘I don’t think men should be in women’s sports.’ This is something – I talk to athletes all the time, 99.9% of professional athletes, like we know this is 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 is insane we’ve gotten to this point in sports that we just can’t be honest about what’s true and not be a jerk about it but to say, ‘Yeah, you’re not putting a male in my daughter’s locker room. It’s not happening.’”
Then-ESPN reporter Samantha Ponder in attendance 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 Jan. 7, 2013. (Matthew Emmons/USA TODAY Sports)
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Transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s sports continued to be a major topic in 2025. President Donald Trump signed an executive order barring men from competing in girls’ and women’s sports in February. Since then, several states have thumbed their nose at the order.
Most notably, California high school sports continue to be a hotbed of discussion as a transgender athlete has competed in track and field and girls’ volleyball.
Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney talks with ESPN reporter Samantha Ponder after defeating the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at BB&T Field on Nov. 6, 2014. (Jeremy Brevard/USA TODAY Sports)
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The NCAA altered its gender-participation policy after Trump’s order. However, women’s sports activists have said the organization’s change didn’t go far enough.
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