I have been a swimmer all my life. At age 8, I started my first season. I fell in love with competing and pushing myself past my limits. I continued to nurture this passion for the next decade, competing on my neighborhood team as well as multiple year round teams. I eventually joined my school’s team and made varsity in 7th grade.

I went to State to compete against the other great girl swimmers year after year in high school, loving the Fastskins, beating my own times and learning when I didn’t. I was lucky to even compete as a collegiate swimmer, taking my craft to the next level with other serious swimmers.

Men being allowed in women’s sports is an insult to all of the practices, meets, and every race I swam in. I gave swimming my all. The pool was my safe haven. A place to challenge myself and have fun with teammates along the way. Allowing men in women’s sports and locker rooms turns swimming into a demonic political stunt. It turns the locker room into an opportunity for sexual assault and the pool into a facade where girls are allowed to compete but never win.

They have lost long before stepping up onto the block. It breaks my heart for all girls, young and young adult, who love the sport but are losing in so many ways more than a race. They are being told that their safety doesn’t matter and their dignity is being sacrificed at the altar of “inclusivity” in favor of the men with mental illnesses or seeking attention. My prayer is that parents of young girls will fight for them to compete against other girls and to expose the cowardice of the organizations allowing this travesty to occur. The pool should be a safe haven for all.