SAT .Sam Ponder fumes over daughter playing basketball against ‘obviously naturally born boy’ in fiery rant

Former ESPN star Sam Ponder railed against how her young daughter’s Big Apple basketball team was forced to compete against “an obviously naturally born boy” at a girls tournament over the weekend.

Ponder, a well-known college football and NFL host who lives in Manhattan, said it was “maddening” to have to watch the clearly “dominant” trans player go up against a group of girls.

“It’s happened many times now living in NYC… yet another basketball game today where my middle school daughter is guarding an obviously naturally born boy in a girls tournament. The parents cheer while the boy is physical and dominant against the girls. The all girls team loses,” she tweeted Sunday.

“We’ve taught our kids to never make fun of the kid… to always be kind and loving. That the parents are the problem.

“That no kid is born in the wrong body. But if I’m honest, watching my daughter get posted up by a boy whose parents have deceived him in this way is maddening.”

Ponder, who has been vocal about the issue of transgender athletes in sports, shares two daughters, 11 and 7, and one son, 8, with her husband, former Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder.

The Big Apple resident said in another tweet despite the city’s lax rules allowing young athletes to compete in line with their gender identity, moving to a red state isn’t an option for her family.

“To everyone saying ‘just move!’ I understand the sentiment but [in my humble opinion] NYC is the greatest American city that has lost its way,” Ponder said.

“I want to fight for truth and love. I don’t want to give in to insanity and darkness. This is still America.”

In later tweets, Ponder stressed that her frustration didn’t lie with the opposing player — but their parents.

“This poor child has been emotionally and mentally abused into thinking there was something wrong with his body. He is the victim not the bully,” she said when someone suggested the player needs to be bullied on the court.

When another X user asked if “is there any proof to this,” Ponder replied, “I don’t need you to believe me. I’m living it. As a wise friend once told me ‘a tall man feels no need to prove his height.’”

Ponder fired back after another user said she’s “trying to keep [her] grift alive” by sharing her post.

“What’s the grift? what is my motivation?” Ponder said. “I can promise you I am not being paid for this honesty but I have lost millions for it.”

Ponder did not return messages seeking comment.

The TV personality didn’t divulge her daughter’s team name or league. In June, she shared with her 658,000 Instagram followers that she and her hubby were homeschooling their trio of kids, using the “Classical Christian model but focusing heavily on learning through experience.”

“ChatGPT has actually been an incredible resource for planning and executing education in ways I never could have done on my own,” she wrote. “The city is our classroom! It hasn’t been all smooth sailing, of course, but I’m confident we will never regret this time learning and growing together.”

Ponder started at the Worldwide Leader in Sports in 2011 but was ousted in 2024. She served as host of “Sunday NFL Countdown” starting in 2017 and before that contributed to and hosted “College Gameday,” and worked as an in-game sideline reporter in 2016.

While ESPN leaders downplayed the loss of Ponder as a budgetary move, she speculated part of the reason she was let go involved her conservative views on trans athletes.

Start your day with all you need to know

Morning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.

Thanks for signing up!

In 2023, she retweeted a video post featuring former Penn swimmer Paula Scanlan recounting her time as a teammate of trans athlete Lia Thomas, and encouraged others to watch it “no matter where you stand on this issue.”

“I don’t really think me losing my job was solely because of that, but the timing of it almost certainly was,” Ponder said on “The Sage Steele Show” in July.

“I was told after the fact privately that most people at the top of the company did agree with me on the issue but there is a loud activist group at Disney and they were not happy with me. I can say all that and tell this part of the story and still tell you, Sage, it’s one of the best things that ever happened to me.”

“I was on that hamster wheel and I was not going to jump off on my own. I needed to get kicked off. As much as the part of the reasoning behind it is legit crazy, I feel no bitterness or even frankly sadness,” she went on to tell Steele, who is also a former ESPN personality.

“I had a great career, I was 20 years in the business. I met some awesome people and there are still some really great people there. Never thought this would kind of be the way out but should have spoken up a long time before, I should have been a lot more courageous when I knew what was right.”

The issue of transgender athletes, particularly in school sports or youth leagues, has been a hot-button issue nationwide. GOP-controlled Nassau County on Long Island has banned trans athletes from competing in women’s sports.

Girls and women’s teams have also forfeited games altogether knowing they’d be going up against a trans competitor, citing safety and fairness.

One of the most notable cases came in 2022, when then-17-year-old Payton McNabb suffered life-altering injuries when she was spiked in the face by a trans competitor.

She previously told The Post that her teammates were aware of a trans player on the opposing team, but were too afraid to speak up.

“We never thought we would ever be put in this position to begin with,” she said. “I didn’t know one person who agreed with [a transgender athlete competing against us] on my team, but we didn’t know what to do.”

McNabb was knocked unconscious for 30 seconds — and left with a concussion, neck injury and two black eyes. She was later diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury, brain bleed, partial paralysis and loss of peripheral vision on her right side.

“It was 100% avoidable, if only my rights as a female athlete had been more important than a man’s feelings,” she said.