Sports
Trans coach boosting visibility for girls’ baseball
‘Everyone should be able to play the sport that they love’
Ava Benach and daughter Paloma share a love of baseball. (Photo courtesy Ava Benach)
Ava Benach signed up her daughter Paloma to play little league baseball when she was five years old. At the time, she made the erroneous assumption that eventually, Paloma would have to switch to softball.
Ava and her wife Mona did sign Paloma up for softball at age 9. Paloma was having none of it. The next year, Paloma participated in an all-girls baseball team sponsored by Baseball for All that won a national tournament in Chino Hills, Calif. It was a boy’s tournament and they were the only girls team.
In 2015, the Benach family started recruiting girls locally and DC Girls Baseball was formed. The organization is the only girls’ baseball program in the region and it draws girls 18 and under from across the D.C. metro area, giving them an opportunity to play baseball at the highest levels.
Ava is serving as president, board chair and head coach of DC Girls Baseball. Along with coaching her now 14-year-old daughter, she also coaches the teams of her two sons, Teddy and Alex, who play with Capitol City Little League.
“Society is telling these girls that baseball is not a sport for them. They experience extreme loneliness if they play on boys’ teams and any mistakes are blamed on their gender,” says Ava. “I have deep admiration and respect for these girls and I love watching them turn into leaders. It is tremendously beneficial for them and builds their confidence.”
Ava’s own path to baseball began in Long Island. She played soccer and little league before switching over to a club team at age 12. In high school, she swam competitively and walked onto the team at Boston College where she swam for four years.
She came to the area in 1994 to attend law school at George Washington University and work on Capitol Hill. She has been an immigration lawyer since 1998.
She began coaching little league teams as each of her three kids became eligible to play.
The Benach household experienced a change recently as Ava transitioned to female. Throughout the process, Ava maintained her visibility.
“When you transition in your 40s, you are already a known quantity. It went better than I thought, and I didn’t lose any friends or clients,” Ava says. “I have a public image in both sports and my profession. I depend upon my reputation.”
The success of DC Girls Baseball drew the attention of the Eastern Women’s Baseball Conference (EWBC), which has been providing opportunities for women to play baseball for more than 20 years. The league features four teams – Montgomery County BarnCats, Baltimore Blues, Virginia Flames and Virginia Fury. They also field a travel team, DC Thunder, for tournament play.
A relationship was formed, and the two organizations began having clinics together. A few of the adult players from EWBC began coaching for DC Girls Baseball. Several of the girls have been recruited to the adult league and the adult travel team.
Paloma Benach was recruited last year to play on the Virginia Fury team in EWBC and she also plays on their travel team, DC Thunder. Normally a pitcher when playing girls baseball, Paloma is a utility player with EWBC to rest her pitching arm. She was 13 at the time and found herself facing experienced adults.
“At first I thought it would be difficult because they know more than I know,” says Paloma. “I do well but there are games where I need assistance.”
Paloma was joined on the team this year by Ava who plays third base. Now that they have a coach and teammate relationship, it brings up a certain question. What does Paloma call Ava?
“She calls me dad which is awkward sometimes in certain parts of the country,” says Ava. “It’s an actual historical biological fact. I don’t want to compete with my wife for the title of mother after 19 years of marriage.”
Both players have something to add in regard to the dynamic of playing together.
“She ignores me,” Ava says. “I have watched her play a thousand times and am amazingly proud of her, even though I am ruining her mojo.”
“Honestly, I try not to look at her. It’s too emotional so I view her as a coach and teammate,” Paloma says. “I think it’s amazing that she has given up so much of her time for all of this.”
The remaining months of summer will be a busy time for both of them. Along with DC Girls Baseball and EWBC, Paloma is playing on the Moose Baseball travel team where she is the only girl. This fall she will try out for her school’s girls’ basketball team and the boys’ baseball team. There will also be baseball tournaments including two stops at Beyer Stadium, former home of the Rockford Peaches.
The gender barrier in baseball continues to improve and this year, Major League Baseball and USA Baseball launched the 2018 Girls Baseball Breakthrough Series to provide opportunities for girls who wish to continue playing or working in baseball.
“There are always going to be people who are not OK with girls playing baseball, but we have created a community where people can be who they are,” says Paloma. “I love this sport and am happy to be surrounded by people who support me and love me.”
“These girls are just asking for the chance to play baseball,” Ava says. “Everyone should be able to play the sport that they love.”
Sports
Blade, Pride House LA announce 2028 Olympics partnership
Media sponsorship to amplify stories of LGBTQ athletes
The Los Angeles Blade and Washington Blade on Friday announced a media partnership with the Out Athlete Fund, which will produce Pride House LA for the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Pride House is the home for LGBTQ fans and athletes that will become a destination during the L.A. Summer Games in West Hollywood in partnership with the City of WeHo. This 17-day celebration for LGBTQ athletes and fans will include medal ceremonies for out athletes, interactive installations, speakers, concerts, and more.
The Los Angeles Blade will serve as the exclusive L.A.-area queer media sponsor for Pride House LA and the Washington Blade will support the efforts and amplify coverage of the 2028 Games.
The Blade will provide exclusive coverage of Pride House plans, including interviews with queer athletes and more. The parties will share content and social media posts raising awareness of the Blade and Out Athlete Fund. The Blade will have media credentials and VIP access for related events.
“We are excited to partner with the Washington Blade, the oldest LGBTQ newspaper in the United States and the Los Angeles Blade, already a strong supporter of Out Athlete Fund and Pride House LA/West Hollywood,” said Michael Ferrera, CEO of Pride House LA. “Our mission is about increasing the visibility of LGBTQ+ athletes and fans to challenge the historical hostility toward our community in the sports world. Visibility is what publications like the Washington and Los Angeles publications are all about. We know they will play a key part in our success.”
“LGBTQ visibility has never been more important and we are thrilled to work with Out Athlete Fund and Pride House LA to tell the stories of queer athletes and ensure the 2028 Summer Games are inclusive and affirming for everyone,” said Blade Editor Kevin Naff.
Out Athlete Fund is a 501(c)3 designed to raise money to offset the training cost of out LGBTQ athletes in need of funding for training. The Washington Blade is the nation’s oldest LGBTQ news outlet; the Los Angeles Blade is its sister publication founded nine years ago.
More than 40 openly LGBTQ athletes are expected to compete in the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics that open on Friday.
Outsports.com notes eight Americans — including speedskater Conor McDermott-Mostowy and figure skater Amber Glenn — are among the 44 openly LGBTQ athletes who will compete in the games. The LGBTQ sports website also reports Ellis Lundholm, a mogul skier from Sweden, is the first openly transgender athlete to compete in any Winter Olympics.
“I’ve always been physically capable. That was never a question,” Glenn told Outsports.com. “It was always a mental and competence problem. It was internal battles for so long: when to lean into my strengths and when to work on my weaknesses, when to finally let myself portray the way I am off the ice on the ice. That really started when I came out publicly.”
McDermott-Mostowy is among the six athletes who have benefitted from the Out Athlete Fund, a group that has paid for their Olympics-related training and travel. The other beneficiaries are freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy, speed skater Brittany Bowe, snowboarder Maddy Schaffrick, alpine skier Breezy Johnson, and Paralympic Nordic skier Jake Adicoff.
Out Athlete Fund and Pride House Los Angeles – West Hollywood on Friday will host a free watch party for the opening ceremony.
“When athletes feel seen and accepted, they’re free to focus on their performance, not on hiding who they are,” Haley Caruso, vice president of the Out Athlete Fund’s board of directors, told the Los Angeles Blade.
Four Italian LGBTQ advocacy groups — Arcigay, CIG Arcigay Milano, Milano Pride, and Pride Sport Milano — have organized the games’ Pride House that will be located at the MEET Digital Culture Center in Milan.
Pride House on its website notes it will “host a diverse calendar of events and activities curated by associations, activists, and cultural organizations that share the values of Pride” during the games. These include an opening ceremony party at which Checcoro, Milan’s first LGBTQ chorus, will perform.
ILGA World, which is partnering with Pride House, is the co-sponsor of a Feb. 21 event that will focus on LGBTQ-inclusion in sports. Valentina Petrillo, a trans Paralympian, is among those will participate in a discussion that Simone Alliva, a journalist who writes for the Italian newspaper Domani, will moderate.
“The event explores inclusivity in sport — including amateur levels — with a focus on transgender people, highlighting the role of civil society, lived experiences, and the voices of athletes,” says Milano Pride on its website.
The games will take place against the backdrop of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s decision to ban trans women from competing in women’s sporting events.
President Donald Trump last February issued an executive order that bans trans women and girls from female sports teams in the U.S. A group of Republican lawmakers in response to the directive demanded the International Olympics Committee ban trans athletes from women’s athletic competitions.
The IOC in 2021 adopted its “Framework on Fairness, Inclusion and Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity and Sex Variations” that includes the following provisions:
• 3.1 Eligibility criteria should be established and implemented fairly and in a manner that does not systematically exclude athletes from competition based upon their gender identity, physical appearance and/or sex variations.
• 3.2 Provided they meet eligibility criteria that are consistent with principle 4 (“Fairness”, athletes should be allowed to compete in the category that best aligns with their self-determined gender identity.
• 3.3 Criteria to determine disproportionate competitive advantage may, at times, require testing of an athlete’s performance and physical capacity. However, no athlete should be subject to targeted testing because of, or aimed at determining, their sex, gender identity and/or sex variations.
The 2034 Winter Olympics are scheduled to take place in Salt Lake City. The 2028 Summer Olympics will occur in Los Angeles.
Sports
‘Heated Rivalry’ stars to participate in Olympic torch relay
Games to take place next month in Italy
“Heated Rivalry” stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie will participate in the Olympic torch relay ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics that will take place next month in Italy.
HBO Max, which distributes “Heated Rivalry” in the U.S., made the announcement on Thursday in a press release.
The games will take place in Milan and Cortina from Feb. 6-22. The HBO Max announcement did not specifically say when Williams and Storrie will participate in the torch relay.
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