Gaines for Girls with Riley Gaines - December 18, 2024


Swinging from the REAL Ladies' Tees


Episode Stats

Length

26 minutes

Words per Minute

170.51831

Word Count

4,528

Sentence Count

4

Misogynist Sentences

13

Hate Speech Sentences

1


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 hello everybody welcome back to the gains for girls podcast uh i say it every time i i start
00:00:13.360 one of these episodes but i truly could not be more grateful for your support uh that you are
00:00:18.880 here watching this right now uh you can check out all things gains for girls at outkick.com
00:00:24.220 i encourage you to do so you can like and comment and subscribe and share these episodes with your
00:00:29.120 friends uh today's episode is a a pretty special one uh it involves a couple athletes a couple
00:00:36.580 professional athletes who have been at the forefront of the movement to protect women's sports
00:00:42.300 in particular protecting the sport of golf uh women's golf the lpga really has been at the
00:00:52.500 epicenter of these these sex eligibility policies and they've faced some serious scrutiny because
00:00:59.040 in 2010 uh the lpga again the ladies that's what the l stands for uh the ladies professional golf
00:01:06.520 association changed their policy to allow men who identify as transgender who have undergone
00:01:13.720 hormone therapy and surgery to compete against women there's one athlete in particular one golfer
00:01:20.760 one man in particular uh by the name of hayley davidson who who really took the golf community
00:01:27.140 by storm uh he advanced to the lpga's qualifying series uh he competed against uh these golfers who
00:01:35.880 who were talking to today uh for a spot at the on the women's lpga tour uh we've seen of course
00:01:44.720 photos we we've heard other athletes like lauren miller and dana fall and and other female golfers who
00:01:50.440 have had to compete against him speak out that all of these women have have really led the charge
00:01:56.260 creating petitions signing on to petitions uh sending letters to the lpga and the usga and the igf
00:02:02.980 all to urge them to do the right thing seems pretty self-explanatory but it took the lpga a long time
00:02:11.020 but finally um a long awaited rule change uh the lpga finally came out now and decided to update their
00:02:20.700 policies and prevent men who have gone through male puberty uh competing against the women
00:02:26.860 uh the policy i believe is less than satisfactory in the sense that uh it insinuates if you have
00:02:34.080 if you haven't excuse me gone through male puberty uh then you can compete with the women which i
00:02:39.780 believe uh is almost an encouragement to people as young as 12 years old to chemically and surgically
00:02:46.040 sterilize and castrate themselves which uh i think is criminal to suggest or encourage by any means
00:02:53.220 but nonetheless this policy change is worth celebrating because it is a bold first step
00:02:59.800 in prioritizing fairness over inclusion uh all of these athletes we are going to talk to today
00:03:07.600 three professional golfers uh and might i mention uh they're all subjects in the independent women's
00:03:14.360 forum uh tea time it is a a series it is called tea time keep women's golf female uh we've had
00:03:21.920 several independent women's forum ambassadors on on this podcast before people like presha mosley
00:03:28.300 a detransitioner people like amy ichikawa who is uh doing phenomenal work in women's prisons and
00:03:35.740 protecting those from from male inmates who are oftentimes convicted of violent sexual crimes
00:03:40.780 realizing that the quickest way to get into a woman's prison which sounds awesome to a rapist
00:03:45.000 is to say he is a woman um all phenomenal episodes uh hector he's another correctional officer who who
00:03:52.300 was um did some work alongside iw and their features uh series and so please follow them at iwf on all
00:04:02.200 socials uh iw features on x um use the hashtag keep women's golf female they're doing really really awesome work
00:04:10.460 uh so please please check them out i'm a proud ambassador of them by the way um but the three
00:04:17.720 golfers professional golfers that we will be talking to today is christiana allison and zoe and you can
00:04:24.180 hear the interview right here well you guys or should i say gals that feels very pertinent today
00:04:31.200 um i could not be more grateful for the opportunity to to be able to speak with you and to thank you for
00:04:38.180 everything that you have done for for your sports uh for this new ruling that came out this this past
00:04:44.680 week uh but broader than that everything you guys have done for the next generation of women to come
00:04:50.380 and so very very excited for this conversation today uh i just wanted to start by asking each of you to
00:04:58.060 give a little a little bit of your background on uh of course your athletic career um but really i think
00:05:05.840 what got you into golf and some of the sacrifices you had to make to be as successful as each of you
00:05:12.160 are and so uh we'll start with you zoe yeah so i started golf when i was 14 years old in high school
00:05:19.720 and it was kind of love at first sight my dad introduced me to the game and i fell in love with
00:05:26.180 the just it was me i wasn't relying on teammates it was like i either make this putter i don't kind of
00:05:33.680 thing so i just fell in love with that aspect of the sport um but yeah that's it's just you know
00:05:40.280 the sacrifices have been giving up time on the weekends to go play a tournament instead of going
00:05:45.860 out with friends or you know it's going on a sunday afternoon to go hit bald when i should be studying
00:05:53.560 maybe so it's just those little sacrifices along the way of course i think it's important uh especially
00:06:00.500 for those who maybe didn't play sports to understand uh the time and the commitment and
00:06:05.620 the dedication and so uh christiana i imagine it's it's a similar i imagine you started when you were
00:06:10.760 young as well yeah i started when i was young also i started at age 11 um my grandma got me into the
00:06:17.500 sport uh she just was an advocate for it and loved going out and spending time with her friends on the
00:06:22.880 weekends and during the week uh outside playing golf and once i started getting into it i just got
00:06:28.980 hooked i was always playing sports but golf had a special uniqueness to it so that's what got me
00:06:35.440 into it and i loved competing and not having to rely on other people and having that individual
00:06:40.160 aspect as well and then played all through high school and loved competing and being out there with
00:06:46.220 my friends just goofing off having a good time that i pursued it through college and got more and more
00:06:51.400 competitive as i continued and just loved the sport and it was hard to make sacrifices but at the
00:06:58.320 same time it was enjoyable because i loved playing golf i was always itching to get out of school
00:07:04.320 early to go to the golf course and work on my game and just try new things and experience new courses
00:07:11.180 so while the sacrifices were hard and i had to give up a lot of family and friend functions it was
00:07:17.000 really enjoyable yeah it is it's like a a love hate relationship to a degree on some days at least
00:07:22.680 that's how how i felt in my sport which it's interesting you guys describe it as you know
00:07:28.140 you're you're on a team to some degree but you really are playing and competing for yourself which
00:07:33.560 is very similar to to swimming and it's an aspect i love about my sport as well so um the the parallels
00:07:39.620 are are certainly there and allison again i i imagine it's a similar background uh for you as well in the
00:07:46.560 sense of it took up a large part of your your time and a big chunk of your life yeah for sure so um
00:07:53.860 similar to christiana i got started when i was around 10 or 11 my dad got my older brother and i
00:08:00.120 into the sport and we grew up playing my brother took to it like white on rice and i was a little slower
00:08:07.120 but i was always getting taken to the course and dropped off that was like mom's favorite babysitter
00:08:12.660 during the summers and so i just grew up and the rest is history and funny enough zoe and i ended up
00:08:20.060 playing as teammates in college so in the terms of sacrifice like that's one of the best times of
00:08:25.720 your life and you really see as an athlete where you have to realize your priorities and you're what
00:08:32.860 you are trying to achieve and your goals and so there's just a lot of those day-to-day experiences and
00:08:38.580 what we would say like oh the college life that you definitely put on a shelf because you're there
00:08:44.880 and you have your sport uh that you love to compete in and play and so just a lot of those
00:08:50.500 and but like christiana said it wasn't really the sacrifices are there on paper but i think in our
00:08:57.020 minds and in our emotions it didn't feel that terrible because we were definitely doing what we love to do
00:09:01.840 and um it's pretty cool you and zoe were teammates that that to me was the best part of of my sport
00:09:08.220 was those people who who happened to be your teammates also grew to be your best friends uh my
00:09:14.380 husband was a swimmer of course that's how i met him and so you're right there there's a lot of
00:09:19.240 sacrifice there's a lot of grueling aspects about it but the good certainly outweighs the bad and i i
00:09:25.480 imagine most athletes especially competing at y'all's level goodness gracious making it to
00:09:30.240 to the professional level uh i would imagine there are are many who agree with you and so
00:09:36.800 this this conversation that golf uh the sport of golf uh in particular the lpga has found itself
00:09:45.320 uh really at the center of uh it's been happening and growing at an exponential rate at the state level
00:09:53.080 the national level uh but you three decided to to take a stand and so i wanted to know what that
00:10:00.840 looked like for you all you know what were some of the the deciding factors that allowed you to feel
00:10:07.460 secure and confident enough to really take that initial leap of faith my biggest i guess deciding
00:10:13.720 factor i mean i after school after i graduate i knew i wanted to play professional golf but it wasn't
00:10:20.360 it wasn't set in stone yet i actually went to the corporate world for almost two years and my prayer
00:10:26.600 was kind of just like lord like if i'm supposed to be playing professional golf like make a way and
00:10:32.520 he did and one of my prayers was if i need because you know this whole gender problem was seeping into
00:10:40.080 the golf world and one of my prayers was just you know if i'm supposed to be out there to take a stand
00:10:47.240 like let me have the courage to do that so when this arose when the petition came out i think it
00:10:53.200 was just like okay like yes i have to take a stand like the lord is putting this right here in front of
00:10:59.280 my face what about you allison similar to zoe in terms of the faith is personally for me a massive
00:11:06.600 driver for everything that i do um but also just my love for just fellow female athletes like i yes i grew up a
00:11:17.000 golfer but in the big scheme of thing i grew up an athlete i was friends with all the girls that
00:11:21.080 played other sports and having a brother that also played sports it was kind of at first like
00:11:28.720 bewildering because it was like all of a sudden you had to explain to people that two plus two equals
00:11:33.420 four just logic but i was like i can't compete against my brother like that's not a fair like just in
00:11:40.900 general and so i think when everything started coming out and the opportunities just kind of
00:11:48.040 um presented themselves it was hannah arnold's a really person close friend of mine that i gained
00:11:53.720 on tour and when through word of mouth like i learned about the movement it wasn't even like a second
00:11:58.820 thought i was i love all the girls that i compete with i love and now as um a little part-time job in
00:12:06.400 order to help support my dream of tour i now am an assistant coach at a university and i have these
00:12:12.900 sweet young women that i'm helping just encourage and all this is their future just as much as it is
00:12:19.260 my current situation like if they want to be able to have a platform to compete and go on in their
00:12:24.360 future like you've got to protect and give these sweet girls the opportunity and so it was that was
00:12:31.200 really my driving factor is just all the love for people around me and just fighting for their chance
00:12:37.440 to play like i mean the pga they already make way more than we do they've got enough on the guy's side
00:12:43.440 fight for the girls absolutely absolutely and christiana uh yeah for me it was similar to zoe
00:12:50.600 whenever i pursued golf i knew it was greater than just playing golf i wanted to have an impact on my
00:12:56.560 community and when i saw the petition come out i was really drawn to like speaking about it because
00:13:03.800 i knew it was like growing up playing against the boys because in utah the golf scene was young so i
00:13:09.960 grew up playing against the boys and i was always at a disadvantage and i knew that there was definitely
00:13:15.500 disadvantages um male and female wise and i wanted to be able to authentically play my sport and compete
00:13:24.060 against those like me and not have to feel like i was a disadvantage by just stepping on the first tee
00:13:30.040 by being out there i wanted to be able to compete to the fullest and pursue what i always dreamed of
00:13:37.120 pursuing and the opportunity arose that i could make an impact and if that's how i left the golf community
00:13:44.380 a little bit better at the end of the day it's worth it these advantages again it's kind of crazy we have
00:13:52.060 to mention them or allude to them because i think you know kindergartners uh seem to understand the
00:13:57.960 difference between boys and girls and men and women but what about in the sport of golf in particular
00:14:04.420 like what are some of the the differences that maybe the average person who doesn't play
00:14:09.500 uh what are some of the advantages that a male might possess over a woman i know personally it's a lot
00:14:16.720 of distance and speed men typically generate higher club head speed and ball speed at the same time so
00:14:23.940 they can hit the ball further they can compress the ball a little bit better so it's just a different
00:14:29.940 style of golf at the end of the day they can hit the ball different they can hit different shot shapes and
00:14:36.500 uh hit a lot of different shots that we're not able to and that's one of the biggest factors is that
00:14:42.740 biological difference of speed yeah no that makes sense what about the response you guys have have
00:14:49.480 had uh do you feel like it's been positive negative have you felt support amongst the golf community uh
00:14:57.920 but i think even broader than that amongst the general public uh we can i can ask you zoe um yeah i've
00:15:04.280 i've had both good and bad feedback um i kind of knew going into this like taking a stand you're going to
00:15:10.460 get the ugly like keyboard bullies as i like to call them but i mean it's just whatever like you
00:15:17.820 just got to ignore that because there's a lot more positive feedback coming from friends family and just
00:15:24.660 people i don't even know um so just remembering that there's more positive than the good or than the
00:15:30.720 bad um but yeah those those uh ugly comments can sometimes run in space in your head but yeah it's true
00:15:38.380 but you're you're right in saying when you know what you're fighting for and when you know
00:15:43.740 know really who you're fighting for um i've grown to to become i mean comfortable and secure in the
00:15:51.880 fact that uh and and i think it's important to mention too you mentioned your faith i mean
00:15:56.400 we're we're we're told uh we're warned uh that we will be persecuted in the same way that he was
00:16:03.000 persecuted for sharing his values so i think that to me is is certainly reassurance to to continue
00:16:10.880 onwards with with full steam ahead um but like i i mentioned that at the beginning of of uh this
00:16:17.820 this podcast again this conversation that we're having is coming off the heels of a pretty exciting
00:16:25.380 and unprecedented heel uh rule change from the lpga and the usga uh they have now announced that
00:16:33.720 they're they're putting policies in place that prohibit males uh who have decided to transition after
00:16:39.960 puberty from participating in women's event uh i believe this is something that has the lpga has
00:16:48.320 wanted to do for a long time uh but there were there were um external factors uh whether that be
00:16:55.100 fear whether that be uh not wanting to be sued whatever it is that that ultimately prevented them from
00:17:01.920 from taking these these actions and this measure um but allison what is your message i think to the lpga
00:17:10.120 the usga igf uh following this change now we're truly just a big thank you it's i know is a massive
00:17:19.820 organization it's hard sometimes to to say things because you you think you're governing sports and then
00:17:27.240 on the next day the world wants to tell you that you have to play politics um instead and i just
00:17:35.620 appreciate that the lpga decided because it's it's hard but i would just encourage them and say look
00:17:43.840 we're not here to play social justice issues or anything we're not telling anyone who can put a bow
00:17:49.820 in their hair we're just letting people know that the bow is not what determines what category you get
00:17:54.260 to compete in go put a bow in your hair whoever you are but it's that doesn't determine we don't all
00:17:58.940 play on the same league just because we're wearing a bow like that isn't what is defining our category
00:18:05.120 in sports and i think that they they've done good i it's a huge relief and truly like you were saying
00:18:15.460 like the feedback it's not even i think 100 for me personally all of the players all of the competitors
00:18:22.540 no one is against this ruling everyone is so supportive i think the only hesitation was coming
00:18:29.060 from the big organizations and like you were saying like their fear of just playing politics or like
00:18:36.340 trying to avoid a lawsuit but which is sad that they have to face that but i would just let them know
00:18:40.940 that at the end of the day they i know that their main goal is to protect their players and the
00:18:46.400 satisfaction of their players and just know that their players are 100 excited and behind them
00:18:52.180 on the decision that they're making christiana do you feel like i'll tell you how i feel personally i
00:19:02.120 guess i feel like over the past few weeks like a very short amount of time it feels like cancel culture
00:19:10.360 is is is fading and again i think that's something that impacted uh the lpga for a long time but it
00:19:16.880 feels like the air has shifted um is that something that that you see amongst as as described your
00:19:24.660 teammates or or people on on teams that you compete against i have definitely kind of seen a trend of
00:19:31.360 where people are understanding the reality of the circumstance and um the idea of cancel culture has
00:19:39.180 kind of kind of not been present in my community they've always been super supportive but i also feel like
00:19:46.880 when the information is fully laid out that it's hard to cancel something that the facts all point to the
00:19:54.860 right way so it's like such a double-edged sword where it's like how can you argue the facts and you
00:20:02.840 see that decline and cancel culture when you look at the facts and people are presented with all the
00:20:08.760 information and that's when positive change happens no i totally agree with you but i fear that's too
00:20:14.700 logical for some um last question for for you guys and i want to ask each of you um what's your advice
00:20:23.680 to other golfers or other female athletes who want to speak out but about this issue in particular
00:20:32.140 of men playing in women's sports but are hesitant due to fear or backlash or maybe potential
00:20:37.780 repercussions they may face yeah i think it's just important to be bold um for me i'm bold in my
00:20:44.580 faith and you know i'm not afraid to take a stand but like you were saying this cancel culture is
00:20:51.160 maybe taking a back seat but i think it's important for us to continue standing and not be complacent and
00:20:57.440 not let these things just brush under the rug because we'll be back in the same position down the road
00:21:02.820 so i think it's important for the younger generation coming up and you know i want i want my little
00:21:08.780 girls to be able to play in a girls league so you know just supporting the girls behind us to to stand
00:21:15.940 up be bold and be brave absolutely absolutely christiana i think for me it's definitely an
00:21:22.940 internal look like you can't judge what you stand up against based off of what the world will think
00:21:28.540 because the world will always counteract everything you say so you have to look inward and see what do you
00:21:34.560 believe in what are your stances uh where does your faith lie and speak off of that if there's
00:21:41.060 something that moves your heart obviously god's calling you to speak about that so be bold and
00:21:46.480 obedient and speaking out and know that positive change is never comfortable but it's good because we
00:21:55.100 got to live in that uncomfortability and that's when things grow and that's where we get the opportunity
00:22:00.800 to be bold absolutely you guys are inspiring me and allison honestly just echoing what these two
00:22:07.740 other amazing women have said it's i would just say it's what your values are in belief and for me
00:22:14.900 personally sometimes it's hard like to think okay if i if i feel strongly about something how do i get
00:22:20.480 my voice out and i think god definitely will provide that platform um for me the independent
00:22:28.460 women's forum they kind of reached out and said hey would you help become an advocacy uh for our
00:22:35.980 fight that we're trying to press and have the lpga make a ruling in favor of the female athletes and
00:22:44.020 that was when i was like absolutely it wasn't a second thought so just encouraging all the young
00:22:51.340 women like if you feel strongly it's great like i think keep your beliefs keep your convictions and i promise
00:22:58.220 like opportunities will present themselves to you and when the time is ready like you you'll be able
00:23:03.180 to have a voice and stand up for what you believe and i just you never can get a back a long-term
00:23:10.360 eternal discount on standing up for what is right it's always going to be the best thing in the long run
00:23:17.820 that's right that's right and i'm so glad actually you mentioned independent women's forum
00:23:22.220 uh because i was just about to say they have really done phenomenal work they were a large part
00:23:28.680 uh i believe in this rule change that that you guys will benefit from as well so many women uh i watch
00:23:36.060 all of your episodes um they have a phenomenal series on their iw features it is called tea time
00:23:42.300 keep women's golf female again it's a series um so i encourage everyone to go check that out
00:23:48.440 um but it features firsthand stories of of current female professional golfers uh like yourselves and
00:23:55.820 their love for the game and the advocacy efforts to to urge the lpga uh the world's most prestigious
00:24:03.240 women's golf organization as well as the usga and the igf again to to reimplement these sex-based
00:24:10.220 eligibility policies uh and maintain the integrity of women's golf um so again you can check that out
00:24:17.600 at iwfeatures.com uh independent women's forum has just been doing phenomenal work across the board
00:24:23.640 but uh really worth highlighting the work they've done in women's golf uh and so thank you again to you
00:24:30.040 all for being willing to participate in that um because it it really made a difference as we have now
00:24:37.340 as we've now seen so again uh i thank you guys i'm so proud of you guys um you you really are
00:24:45.060 setting the standard for so many other women to follow uh and so we will continue to cheer you on
00:24:51.080 uh whether that's um you know in whatever realm of life uh but we are so grateful for you and your
00:24:58.060 bold leadership and your stand in your faith so thank you girls again thank you guys for tuning in
00:25:04.940 to the gains for girls podcast uh it's always remarkable to me i've been doing this i've been having
00:25:10.740 this same conversation for for over two years now but but every time especially when i'm talking to
00:25:17.340 to young girls who have had to bear this burden because their leaders will not um every time i leave
00:25:25.140 feeling inspired and more courageous than before uh i went into the conversation so i applaud them
00:25:32.060 uh for for the actions that they have taken to ensure the lpga did what they now have done
00:25:39.740 uh the l in lpga finally means something again which is a victory worth celebrating i'll remind you one
00:25:48.120 more time to check out independent women's forum uh follow them at iwf and iwfeatures on x uh you can go to
00:25:57.300 to youtube and type in tea time keep women golf female and see the series that they've got going
00:26:02.520 on there you can hear a more in-depth account from christiana and allison and zoe and other
00:26:07.980 female current former professional golfers uh really really awesome work that the independent
00:26:14.100 women's forum is doing um we thank you guys again check us out at outkick.com you can see that
00:26:20.280 my episodes you can see other outkick contributors what we've got going on like
00:26:25.460 subscribe and comment share these episodes and we will see you guys again next week and might i add
00:26:32.020 merry christmas