A nearly 30-year-old transgender skateboarder claims beating a field of pre-teen, and teen girls is justified and is the first step toward joining the U.S. Olympics skateboarding team.
Ricci Tres, 29, born Richard Batres, says that his recent first prize showing at The Boardr competition in New York City is perfectly legitimate and that he does not have any advantages because he “isn’t buff,” according to the Daily Mail.
Tres, a former U.S. sailor who served four years as a machinist aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln and is the father of three children, told the Mail that he is proud of his win.
“I’m not going to go and be easy on them because they’re kids,” Tres told the paper this week.
“It’s funny it’s what I am getting beat up over the most, people saying “you’re beating little kids, little girls.’ I didn’t intend to do that. This is the first one I’ve been to that I actually wanted to win… the age thing doesn’t really count,” Tres explained.
Tres decided he is transgender only two years ago and has been taking testosterone treatments but has not had any surgical alterations. But despite being nearly in his 30s, Tres said he doesn’t think he has any advantages over the little girls he beat in the competition.
“I don’t think I have physical advantage. Look at me. I’m not buff or anything,” Tres told the paper. “I don’t work out really, I just skateboard. And I don’t think skateboarding has anything to do with physicality, especially when you look at kids these days.”
“The whole physical aspect of skateboarding isn’t really there. It’s really the skill level. Any kind of advantage you get is determined by… skaters know… it’s your commitment and determination,” Tres said, adding, “If you love the sport, it speaks to you and you find ways to do what you do on your board. If I have any advantage is that I’m extremely determined. But that’s not an advantage. Everyone has the opportunity.”
The middle-aged trans skateboarder also claimed it isn’t right to have testosterone requirements or separate categories for trans athletes and that they should be able to compete just on their say-so.
Tres insisted that testosterone testing is “too intrusive” and feels that maybe weight or body mass measurements would be better to classify trans athletes.
In addition, separate categories for trans athletes is the wrong approach, Tres said. “Personally, I don’t think segregating everything is the right way. I feel like that would be calling us different, like a different human race when we’re not.”
Tres also admitted that the Olympics is the main goal of his skateboarding career, though he failed a testosterone level test for the 2021 women’s Olympic skateboarding qualifiers.
Despite Tres’ claims that he poses no threat to natural-born female competitors, not everyone shares that sentiment.
Speaking on the OutKick podcast Don’t @ Me, skateboarder Taylor Silverman blasted critics who have attacked her for her criticism of men claiming to be women who are competing in sports against natural-born female competitors.
Despite the criticism, Silverman still says trans athletes have an unfair advantage over women.
“I thought it was unfair at the time. I was really uncomfortable,” Silverman said about competing against a trans athlete. “So, I just participated and went through the motions of a contest. Like I would try to be a good sportsman. But the more that I sat with it and thought about it, the more I felt like I needed to say something. Because I recognize that this is an issue bigger than skateboarding. This is impacting all different sports and girls and women on all levels.”
Silverman also worries that leftist activists will destroy her skateboarding career because she is speaking out against trans athletes.
Silverman recently spoke out against competing against biological males at the “Our Bodies, Our Sports Rally” in Washington, D.C.
Watch — Female Skateboarder Who Lost to Biological Male: Keep Women’s Sports Female and Fair
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