Martina Navratilova reacts to suspension of high school basketball coach after forfeiting game against team featuring transgender athlete

Tennis great Martina Navratilova has reacted to the suspension of a high school basketball coach after he forfeited a game against a team featuring a transgender athlete.

Recently, Chris Goodwin, coach of Mid-Vermont Christian School's girls' basketball team, refused to field a side for a Division IV playoff game against Long Trail on 21 February. The refusal stemmed from the presence of a transgender player in the Long Trail team. As a result of Goodwin's decision, Mid-Vermont Christian School was banned from all athletic events by the Vermont Principals’ Association.

Goodwin himself made an on-air appearance to justify his decision.

"I've got four daughters. I've coached them all at one point in their careers playing high school basketball," he said on Fox & Friends (via New York Post).

The suspended coach also spoke of the differences between male and female athletes from experience.

"I've also filled in for the boys' coach when he can't make a practice, and I run those practices, and boys just play at a different speed, a different force than the girls play."

Navratilova took notice of the development and urged people to stop pointing fingers at girls and women who continue to participate against transgender athletes without raising their voices.

"This what happens to people who do the right thing... the rules must change! So stop blaming girls and women who don't speak up or who don't refuse to compete- these are the repercussions," Navratilova wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

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Martina Navratilova slammed BBC's coverage of Oxford murder case as 'irresponsible' and 'unfair'

Martina Navratilova at a WTA event in 2022

Recently, Martina Navratilova came across a post on X (formerly Twitter) that featured BBC reporters discussing the Oxford murder case involving transgender woman Scarlet Blake. In 2021, the Oxford Crown Court found Blake guilty of murdering 30-year-old Spanish engineer Jorge Martin Carreno. Blake had come out as transgender when she was 12.

In the video that caught Navratilova's attention, which was filmed before the Oxford Crown Court delivered its verdict, BBC reporters can be heard using female pronouns to refer to Blake. The user who posted the video wrote:

"Here's the moment journalists falsely portrayed the male murderer Scarlet Blake (also known as Fangze Wang and later Alice Wang) as a woman, to millions of UK viewers. Remarkably, their previous story reached out to fact checkers BBC Verify..but were somehow not deemed necessary for this story. #NotOurCrimes,"

18-time singles Grand Slam winner Navratilova reacted to the video, stating that the news station was 'unfair' and 'irresponsible' in its coverage of the case.

"Unreal. So irresponsible to do this- and unfair," the 67-year-old wrote.