Parenting
fromSlate Magazine
4 hours agoMy Daughter's Sport Has Taken a Sudden Turn. She's Too Young for This.
Introducing skill testing in sports for young children can be appropriate if they have prior experience and are ready for growth.
The ongoing discussions regarding future structural changes to the game, such as the introduction of new tournaments (eg. Fifa Club World Cup), further intensify this challenge. These changes have the potential to significantly reduce the downtime available to elite players, affecting their recovery and overall well-being.
World Athletics, the international governing body for athletics, requires all athletes to undergo an SRY test before competing in the female category for all major championships and Diamond League events. The rule is in place to exclude trans women and intersex people from competition. The SRY gene tests are used to detect the presence of the Y chromosome via a cheek swab or blood sample and cost £185.
USA's Katie Uhlaender, a five-time Winter Olympian in skeleton, accused the Canadian team of deliberately pulling four of its six athletes from a race in Lake Placid, New York, last weekend in order to make it harder for athletes from other countries to qualify. The reduced field meant fewer qualifying points were available and Uhlaender, who won the event, missed out on a place at this year's Games, which will take place in Milan-Cortina, Italy.
But there's also the matter of making sure one's equipment is up to snuff - and, beginning with this year's Winter Olympics, that means not having any PFAS, or "forever chemicals," in the mix. What happens if a competitor does turn out to have such chemicals in their equipment? They'll find themselves disqualified. As GearJunkie's Mary Andino reports, three skiiers have been disqualified so far due to their use of fluorocarbon wax, also known as "fluoro wax."