Athlete CeCe Telfer On The Power Of Sports For Trans Youth

Trigger warning: suicidal ideation.

In 2019, CeCe Telfer became the first transgender woman to win an NCAA title in the 400m hurdle of Women’s Division II. Now, while training to qualify for the 2021 Olympics, CeCe speaks about the impact the sport will have on her life growing up.

I have never identified myself as a male athlete. In high school, during athletics meetings, I would tell myself that I am an athlete competing in a sport I love. And I only run against these guys to be better than them.

I didn’t start competing on the women’s track and field team until my senior year of college at Franklin Pierce University. By then, I’d already come out and had long since met the NCAA requirements for a female transport athlete to compete on the women’s team – one year of testosterone suppression.

The trainers created a safe environment in which I could express myself and concentrate on my craft. They were really happy for me when I decided to compete in this sport as myself. I know that would not have been the case at other universities.

When trans young people are allowed to play sports, when coaches can accept and encourage them, they are seen as a person before they are seen for their transitional status. I am a great athlete. I am a black woman. And I’m a trans woman too.

I can’t say enough about the positive effects exercise has had on my life. As a top athlete, that is of course my passion and focus now. But even before that, it allowed me to prioritize myself, calm down all the noise and hatred, and continue to work to achieve my goals.

Participating in sports gave me a place of belonging to a team and among my peers. It helped me develop cooperative skills. It allowed me to spend time away from the more difficult parts of my life where I had to pretend I was someone I wasn’t. It distracted me from the noise and pain.

Sport has the power to bring people together. We just have to let it happen.

Henrique Plantikow

I was born in Jamaica, but honestly I don’t like to talk about it.

It hurts to bring back memories of my childhood there. There I was bullied for being who I am; I experienced a lot of hatred there. It’s a place that still doesn’t accept me and my successes.

The Jamaican lifestyle consists of closely related families, heteronormative values ​​and different gender roles. My family embodied these ideas and emphasized the distinction between the sexes by conditioning boys as boys and girls as girls. They required certain clothes to be worn and toys to be played with.

I tried wearing feminine clothes and playing with girls’ toys. I’ve drawn into sports like double dutch and gymnastics. I just wanted to be with the other girls and play on their team.

I moved to Canada when I was 12. I claim my Canadian background more than my Jamaican heritage. Canada is very LGBTQ-friendly and the atmosphere I experienced there showed me its openness and acceptance. I could be accepted for who I am. In Canada, I could show up to school like myself.

But at home I had to be someone I wasn’t. And that didn’t feel good.

Henrique Plantikow

As a kid, I enjoyed many different types of exercise.

Running is expected when I grew up in Jamaica, but I’ve also played other sports such as gymnastics, cheerleading, and volleyball. Even now, I practice cross training by being active in these other sports. When my body is active, my mind is clear and that brings me back to the game. I find confidence in my body and what it can do. It trains me to concentrate on myself off the track as well.

I made a decision in middle school to focus on athletics. Since they have that at every school, I knew that I would always have a place and a team.

On the track, my mind was able to concentrate on my performance, my speed. All the pain, the hatred, the judgment could go away like the landscape I sprinted past.

On the track, I had my body under control, was able to master hurdles quickly and with agility, and everyone around me only encouraged me to drive faster.

Henrique Plantikow

Even so, I struggled with depression as a kid and in high school.

These feelings were intense and oppressive. Although I felt like I could be myself at school, it became more and more difficult to hide who I was at home. It was a matter of life or death for me.

I had suicidal thoughts and even started writing a note to leave behind after leaving the world. But I could never finish the note because I kept getting drawn into training and attending track meets.

Sport saved me. I was able to stay in school longer because I had track training, and running kept my mind off the reality of my situation outside of school. I don’t know if I would be here if I didn’t have any exercise.

People will still not understand who I am.

In the two years since my groundbreaking NCAA Women’s Division II championship over the 400 meter hurdle, I’ve contacted more than 200 coaches in hopes of qualifying for the 2021 Olympics. Only two replied and one stopped replying to my emails after finding out I was trans.

People will keep pointing and laughing, but at the end of the day all I can say is meet me on the track and we’ll see who is faster. To other athletes who don’t accept me as a competitor, meet me on the track and if we run the same race the books will tell you something you can’t deny: it’s fast.

I love what I do and I live my truth and my authentic life.

I believe this is my way of being the change I want to see in the world. And I live that every day.

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source https://dailyhealthynews.ca/athlete-cece-telfer-on-the-power-of-sports-for-trans-youth/