Ahead of the Indiana Fever’s showdown against the Minnesota Lynx on Sunday, fans organized a rally right outside Target Center to show their support for Sophie Cunningham. Softball player Kendall Kotzmacher, who was there to support the guard, found herself caught in the middle as Cunningham’s supporters and counter-protesters demonstrated outside the arena.
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In an interview with Fox News’ Jackson Thompson, the NCAA athlete opened up about why the experience felt harrowing while pointing to an incident involving former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines.
“When Riley first got to the game, once people started realizing it was her, they started shoving through crowds. There’s one video where this guy’s starting to push through, putting a megaphone in her face,” she told Thompson.
“…Minneapolis is super unsafe and there’s no protection whatsoever because the cops are limited in what they can do because they’re not even protected. So it was definitely worrisome, and I remember talking to my mom, and I was like. ‘Okay, we need to make sure that we’re being smart. We’re parking near where we’re walking, making sure that we’re never alone.’ So that part was scary.”
“But I think once we got there and I was in a big enough group. I was like, ‘Okay, I’m with the crowd. I’m going to be okay,'” Kotzmacher added when asked whether she ever felt concerned for her own safety during the rally.
Kotzmacher is all set to begin her collegiate career at Colorado Christian this upcoming year. But before that, she played as a catcher at White Bear Lake High School, where she hoped to end her senior year with a state championship. However, according to another Fox News report, the opportunity slipped away after Champlin Park, led by a transgender pitcher, defeated her team in the championship.
Since then, Kotzmacher has become an outspoken advocate on the issue. And that’s exactly why, when Sophie Cunningham recently went viral for her comments about protecting “young girls in a locker room,” Kotzmacher publicly supported the Fever guard.
“They have no rebuttal to what we’re standing for,” she further added. “They have nothing to go against what we’re trying to say, and so they just go back to calling us names.”
Kotzmacher isn’t the first Sophie Cunningham supporter to find herself at the center of unwanted confrontation. The first incident that made headlines happened in Seattle when Seattle Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton accosted two teenage girls for bringing signs supporting Sophie Cunningham.
Meanwhile, the Fever veteran has made it clear that her priority remains on the court rather than the growing attention surrounding the debate.
“I think that there’s a lot to be said, and I’m going to let people just do the speaking for themselves. But for me, I want to get back to basketball. It’s always been about basketball,” Cunningham said during a recent practice media availability.
Still, with opinions sharply divided and demonstrations continuing to follow the Fever on the road, the conversation appears far from over. According to reports, another rally in support of Sophie Cunningham is already being planned for Saturday in Chicago, where Indiana will face the Chicago Sky.