A trans woman skateboarder, who is in her thirties and has begun competing against adolescent girls half her age, has no regret about winning. When the news that 29-year-old Ricci Tres won a skateboarding competition in which the adult was competing against young children spread, people were enraged. Now Tres is speaking to Daily Mail about how she never intended “to go easy on them just because they’re kids.”
Tres is a trans woman who lives in Los Angeles. She was born Richard Batres and had established herself in life. She’d gotten married and had three kids, as well as joining the military as a second-class petty officer in the United States Navy. Tres began taking hormones two years ago to transition into womanhood. She explained that throughout her youth, she felt “guilty” since she liked to dress like a lady, and this was not acceptable in her circle.
She claimed she battled with her gender identity for a long time.
“It was the thought of the fact that I’ve lived 27 years with this little guilt over random things that I didn’t give myself time to understand like cross-dressing… finally I just came to the realization that I am female, have a lot of female energy and that is what I prefer to be,” she stated.
She hoped to participate in the women’s Olympic skateboarding trials last year, but she didn’t make it because she took a hormone test and discovered that her testosterone levels were still too high. She has been taking hormones long enough to remove all of her testosterone from her system in order to compete against women and girls now that a year later.
Tres has been in the news lately after taking first place in The Boardr, an event held in New York City over the weekend. The Boardr is a competition that involves both children and adults. In recent years, young people have done very well in the competition. Last year, Shiloh Catori won the women’s category at 14 years old. Christine Cottam came second with Juri Ikura third (10-year-old).
Tres won this year’s competition at the age of twenty-nine. Shiloh Catori, a teenager, came in second.
Many internet users are outraged that a person who was born an adult male, but has since transitioned to life as a woman, would be competing against young adolescent females. However, Tres feels there is no problem with it and believes that in her sport, skateboarding, gender, and sex “don’t count,” as they do in swimming or running.
“I’m not going to go and be easy on them because they’re kids,” she stated.
She said, “It’s funny it’s what I am getting beat up over the most, people saying ‘you’re beating little kids, little girls.’ I didn’t intend to do that. This is the first one I’ve been to that I actually wanted to win…. the age thing doesn’t really count.”
Tres does not feel she has an advantage over teenage girls in her region due to being a transgender woman.
“I don’t think I have a physical advantage. Look at me. I’m not buff or anything. I don’t work out, really. I just skateboard. And I don’t think skateboarding has anything to do with physicality, especially when you look at kids these days.”
