GoldenGate
GOLD
Not sure why you have decided to focus on a specific age group in your position. Prior to puberty the difference between male and female size, strength, and performance is pretty much irrelevent. So, why even have a girls and boys distinction prior to U13? Let's just have soccer teams, and the individual Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities will determine which level you play.
I'm of the opinion that soccer is a contact sport. In contact sports testosterone matters. The NWSL policy is a very pragmatic perspective. Once people reach U13 in a contact sport there is a legitimate concern that grows as age increases (pun intended). Is it as important as in combat sports (wrestling, boxing, ect..) where there are strict weight classes because of the safety concerns? No. Is the concern with testosterone in soccer as important as in Hockey, Football, or Rugby? I say Yes, it is. Even though soccer does not have constant intense contact, like Football or Rugby, it does happen.
Good question. Two reasons. First, because that is the hill the transphobes chose to die on when they chose to dehumanize and out a specific 10 year old girl at this website. Second, the situation of a 10 year old very obviously highlights the fact that literally none of the arguments that support imposing limitations on transgender participation make sense when applied to a 10 year old girl. That the answer to the question transgender participation is appropriate or not depends on a multitude of factors, including legitimate safety concerns, the societal importance or relative lack of importance of winning/losing at a particular age group or level, the importance of teaching inclusion at particular age group, the privacy interests at issue, and ways to make it fair for everyone, not just the transphobes who are desperate for they're (typically physically deficient) little princess to win a trophy.
Compare a 10 year old trans girl to the Penn swimmer. Is an NCAA championship societally important and an appropriate consideration when deciding what standards should apply? Sure, to some extent. Is the 10 year old girls' bracket at Surf Cup. No f**king way, since we're just talking about the fragile egos of some transphobic shit bag fathers. Is it important for society to take efforts to intervene to protect a fully grown adult who was a sufficiently elite enough to swim as a male at one of the best universities in the country? Maybe not, although those same rules also provide opportunity to far less elite swimmers to overcome much worse history of abuse, so maybe one trans woman winning a national championship in the entire history of the NCAA is a small price to pay to help less fortunate people. Regardless, is it important for society to protect 10 year old trans girls from what is almost inevitable abuse if we don't? Absolutely. Similarly, is it critically important to teach grown adults at Penn lessons in inclusion? Sure, but not nearly as important as teaching those lessons to 10 year old children.
Does it make sense to DNA test players at the Olympics? Sure. Does DNA testing 10 year old girls at Surf Cup make any f**king sense at all? Of course not. Are there important privacy interests for 10 year old trans girls? As the shit bags here who took it upon themselves to try to out one have proven, absolutely. Do those same privacy concerns apply to an elite athlete who decided to accept their status as a public figure by participating in the Olympics, or even an NCAA championship? Absolutely not.
Does requiring testosterone suppression make sense at an Olympic level where biological male testosterone among elite athletes is hugely different than female athletes? Of course. Does it make sense at a prepubescent level where boys and girls still share very similar testosterone levels and before they are old enough to make an educated decision about this? Absolutely not.
Are there legitimate safety issues that need to be addressed in team sports at the pro and NCAA level? Sure. Are there with 10 year old girls? FFS, no. I also disagree with your opinion that 13 year old should be a cut-off for transgender participation in comp soccer, but at least that's a rational opinion. My daughter played trans girls all the way through club, and maybe even in college, with no problems. Not a single GDA or ECNL trans girl ever caused a safety issue, and there are more than adequate guardrails in place to ensure that it doesn't happen. There are rules that obviously prohibit dangerous play, there are three refs, two coaches, and a lot of thought that was put in by ECNL before letting it happen. There is the fact that trans girls are incredibly rare and that I have yet to ever witness a trans girl who was out to hurt someone or play in a way that was physically dangerous. It is a phantom fear. It is far more likely that any girl hurt your kid than a trans girl who has been living in fear her entire life that even the slightest mis-step could ruin her life or get her killed.