While the rest of us enjoyed an extended holiday weekend, Team USA was on the clock at the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup. They barely escaped Italy on Sunday, then beat Czechia by 41 points Monday to sweep group play. (USA Basketball’s social team had the perfect response.) After the Italy scare, Coach Kara Lawson had a message of her own for a roster so deep that Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Paige Bueckers come off the bench (controversially). Talent alone isn’t going to win their fifth straight World Cup title, especially with France on their heels. The Olympic silver medalists just set a World Cup record with 22 threes. Since they’re on the opposite side of the bracket, Sunday’s championship game could be a rematch of the one-point Paris Olympics final. It’s a prospect I find equal parts thrilling and terrifying, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves. First, we have to beat Hungary in the quarterfinals tomorrow…
— Jordan Galloway / Editor / Katonah, NY
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Mum's the Word
What's going on: More women’s sports organizations are putting fertility care on the benefits list. Spain’s soccer federation just announced it will cover egg freezing and other fertility treatments for eligible national-team members through 2029. The WSL’s Chelsea Women recently launched a fertility fund, while UEFA has encouraged clubs to incorporate reproductive care into their employment policies. To some extent, the US has been ahead of that curve. The WNBA added family-building benefits for players in 2020, and Racing Louisville became the first NWSL club to offer free egg and embryo freezing the following year. Just last month, Gotham FC announced a partnership that includes fertility assessments, preservation consultations, egg freezing, and IVF. The idea is simple: Give athletes more control over whether and when they want to have children, while teams gain another tool to attract and retain top talent.
Freeze frame: The complicated part? Women’s sports have also gotten better at making motherhood possible during an athlete’s career. As of June, there were 28 moms in the NWSL, with maternity leave, childcare, and contract protections to help more of them return after childbirth. That progress fuels some of the criticism of Spain’s new benefit. Olympic medalist and mom of two Ana Peleteiro called the program “deeply sexist,” while a Spanish labor union argued the priority should be to make pregnancy more compatible with a professional career. Spain says the program is meant to add another option, not steer anyone toward one. Still, the debate exposes a bigger question about what progress for female athletes actually looks like. Preserving fertility can provide reassurance about the future. Making sure motherhood doesn’t cost them playing time, money, or opportunity could offer something else: the freedom to start their families when they want to, without sacrificing their careers.
