Trans Athlete Nicole Powers Talks About Vowing To Never Compete Against Women, Coaches Reactions

Trans athletes competing in women’s sports is a hot-button issue. Of course, most people can see the inherent flaws in the idea that biological men should be able to compete against women because of, well, the way biology works, but you still have folks digging in their heels.

However, trans-identifying athlete Nicole Powers is not one of them, and she spoke to OutKick’s Hayley Caronia about why she will never compete against women and why it didn’t exactly go over well with some of her coaches.

Powers has competed as an alpine, freestyle, and cross-country skier as well as a tennis player and golfer at the collegiate and professional levels.

“When I was transitioning and starting my athletic career, you didn’t see trans women competing in women’s sports because we all knew that that wasn’t the right thing to do,” Power said. 

Powers explained that she had been force-fed the usual progressive talking points, but says she took a step back upon seeing the problems we’ve seen in women’s sports over the last few years with biological men competing in women’s sports.

“I had to take a step back and realize that biological realities are real and competitive advantages will always exist despite the number of years or whatever surgeries and hormones you’ve done, and then understood that my place is not in women’s sports,” Powers explained.

According to Powers, upon telling her coaches that she would no longer compete against women, some were shocked and tried to convince her otherwise.

“[The coaches were] shocked in the sense of, ‘Well, no, no, no; you belong here.’ And even with me saying, ‘No, I don’t,’ they still are continuing to try to force the agenda that, ‘You’re a trans woman; we’re going to keep championing you in women’s sports.'”

Powers said that she pushed back against the coaches’ assistance that she’s a woman.

“I’m not a woman; I’m a trans woman,” Powers said. “And it’s like this bizarro world where I’m trying to defend my reality against people who are trying to defend something I’m telling them I’m not.”

Powers explained that this way of thinking is permeating all of sports, with coaches, trainers, and governing bodies falling into the trap. She also said that while some have continued to support her competitive endeavors in the men’s category, others have insisted on not wanting to get behind this “political agenda.”