Welcome to Between Victory & Visibility, a biweekly editorial space where we track not just the wins but the systems, the struggles and the shifting lines of visibility in sport.
Sport loves to pretend it’s neutral. Objective. A meritocracy carved from sweat, stats and standardized rules but crack open the headlines, no not the Nike campaigns or FIFA slogans, what spills out is less a celebration of fair play than a tangled mess of politics, identity panic and institutional injustice.
This past two weeks wasn’t just about women in sport, a phrase so overused it’s become a branding category. It was about who gets to be categorized, counted, coached or conveniently erased. About psychologists burning out while athletes smile for the camera. About federations that treat “ethics” like a Netflix subscription: something to renew only when public outrage spikes.
In this second dispatch of Between Victory & Visibility, we dig into the fractures no scoreboard will ever show you. Not to solve them but to sit in the discomfort they create. Because maybe discomfort is the most honest space left in sport.
The stories collected here don’t ask what’s trending. They ask what’s transforming.
⚖️ 1. The Fragility of Fairness in Women’s Sport
A publication from 2019 titled “Games, Sports, and Play: Philosophical Essays” contains interesting philosophical essays on the neglected topics of games, sports and play. Some of the essays address conceptual questions about what games and sports have in common that makes them such and that distinguishes them from other activities. Some ask more normative questions like this chapter I share, about women’s category in sports. The chapter is called “The Fragility of Fairness“ and it challenges the default moral compass of women’s sports: fairness.
This essay presents a critical philosophical analysis of how fairness is used as the primary criterion in sex-segregated sports and why that may be inadequate or even misleading. It argues that relying solely on fairness hides the ethical and political work we need to do when it comes to inclusion, identity and equity in sport.
🔗 Read the full analysis on Oxford Academic
🗨️ Summary via idrottsforum.org
🌀 2. Flow States Measured via EEG
A June arXiv study used EEG to model flow states during athletic performance (golf, tennis). It confirmed correlations between prefrontal activity and psychological flow, offering methods to boost performance through mental training.
🔗 https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.16838
💸 3. Podcast: Why Governments Are Betting Big on Sports?
The Gulf States and China are investing billions in building stadiums and acquiring sports teams but what exactly are they buying and can an entrepreneur from Cincinnati strike it rich by introducing baseball to Dubai? In the episode 640 of Freakonomics, one of the featured guests is Professor Simon Chadwick, one of my favorite academicians, whose work explores leadership and strategy in complex global environments, with a particular focus on the Afro-Eurasian sport, event and cultural industries. He recently co-edited The Geopolitical Economy of Sport: Power, Politics, Money and the State, the first book of its kind.
🔗 Freakonomics – Episode 640 with Prof. Simon Chadwick
📚 4. Sport, Not Just as a Game but as Philosophy
Lastly, if you want to think slower and deeper, the July 2025 archives of Idrottsforum.org offer a feast of long-form reflections on sport philosophy. Topics range from the meaning of play to the political implications of “performance” in a hyper-optimized society. This isn’t about sport for sport’s sake, it’s about how our bodies become symbols, battlegrounds and sometimes… metaphors.
🔗 Browse July’s philosophical entries: idrottsforum.org – Sport, Ethics & Philosophy
🌞 5. Why Heat Impacts Women Differently: Dr. Stacy Sims
With summer heat waves intensifying training conditions across the globe, staying hydrated isn’t just about drinking more water, especially for active women. Dr. Stacy Sims highlights the often overlooked sex differences in thermoregulation, showing how women’s bodies respond differently to heat, sweat less efficiently and face unique hydration challenges due to hormonal fluctuations and lower total body water. Understanding these nuances is key to avoiding fatigue, GI issues and more serious risks like exercise-associated hyponatremia (EAH).
🔗 What Active Women Need to Know About Sodium, Hydration & EAH
⚽️ 6. Women’s EURO 2025 Showcases Progress
Italy beat Norway in a key Women’s EURO 2025 quarter-final on July 16, marking major progress in women’s football. Notably, Italy’s players only began turning professional three years ago, a milestone in the growth of the sport.
🔗 BavarianFootballWorks — Italy vs Norway
🧝🏼♀️ 7. Athletes Seek Meaning Beyond Winning
A July 21 Guardian feature examines top athletes, like Scottie Scheffler, Alexander Zverev, Amanda Anisimova, who are reassessing success, purpose and identity beyond wins and losses. The article ties these reflections to existential psychology and sport philosophy.
🔗 The Guardian — Beyond Winning and Losing
🚻 8. Trans Inclusion, Gender Categories and the Ethics of Division
Continuing in the same vein, a new journal article released last week examines gender-diverse/non-binary participation in elite sport. It moves beyond polarized headlines and presents three different ethical positions that attempt to reconcile inclusion, performance standards and social equity.
While the world of competitive sport often assumes “clear” divisions, this piece reminds us that ethics isn’t binary, even when sport insists that the athletes must be.
🔗 Taylor & Francis Online — Ethics of Division
🧠 9. Ethics in the Mind: The Silent Battle of Sport Psychologists
An older but resurfacing classic from ResearchGate is gaining traction again: a dialogue between top sport psychologists on the ethical dilemmas they face, not in theory but in practice. Confidentiality, boundary-setting and emotional regulation aren’t just therapy room challenges, they’re performance-critical factors in elite sports. Why is this relevant now? Because more practitioners are reporting burnout. And burnout in the helper becomes a blind spot in the athlete.
🔗 ResearchGate — The Silent Battle of Sports Psychologists
⚖️ 10. NWSL & US Soccer Under Fire Over Trans Policy Vacuum
On July 15, conservative lobbyists targeted the NWSL and US Soccer for letting their transgender athlete inclusion policy expire (originally from 2021). Now, neither organization has clear guidelines despite 28 U.S. states enforcing bans on trans women in sports. The lapse has intensified debates about the role federations play in shaping inclusive yet equitable sport.
🔗 The Guardian — NWSL and US Soccer’s lack of transgender policy
👩🏻⚕️ 11. Academic Release: Sport Psychology Models
The July 2025 issue of Psychology of Sport and Exercise introduces developmental systems models, including youth sport’s role in positive development.
🔗 Psychology of Sport and Exercise — Vol. 79
🏋️ 12. Wales Coach Pleads for Gender Equity Post-Euro Exit
Following a tough 6-1 loss at Euro 2025, Wales coach Rhian Wilkinson called for equal sports opportunities for girls and women in Wales, highlighting underfunding, lack of club contracts and insufficient infrastructure. Her appeal underscores the broader connection between ethics, psychology and youth development in sport.
🔗 Reuters — Rhian Wilkinson calls for equal sports opportunities for girls and women in Wales
🇪🇸 13. Spain’s Women’s Football Gets Political
In the wake of Spain’s historic 2023 World Cup win, the team’s transformation continued on and off the field. Last week’s tournament preparations were still affected by lingering institutional challenges, from enforced culture shifts to Jenni Hermoso’s notable removal from the Euro 2025 roster. The fallout from Luis Rubiales’ infamous non-consensual kiss has spurred positive reforms but also highlighted deep-seated issues around consent, respect and women’s autonomy in elite sports systems.
🔗 The Guardian — Everything is Better
🚧 14. Barriers to Sport Psychology Development
A July paper on ResearchGate explored facilitators and barriers affecting the professional growth of sport psychology, discussing challenges in implementing psychological services in athletic environments.
🔗 ResearchGate — Do We Really Need Sport Psychologists?
By now if you’re still expecting sport to offer moral clarity you might also believe the IOC is a grassroots democracy. The truth is, elite sport has never been just about performance. It’s a theater of control, over gender, over bodies, over who gets to be celebrated and who gets politely excluded for “the greater good.”
So no, there are no tidy takeaways here. Just the lingering question: What happens when the institutions designed to elevate become the very ones that suffocate?
We’ll be back in two weeks. Until then, question the categories. Doubt the headlines. And never trust a fairness doctrine written by the comfortable.
Stay tuned, stay critical and stay moving ♥
In sport and in thought,
See you next time!
melikeagansoy.com 