PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Earlier this week, Arizona Diamondbacks star Ketel Marte was brought to tears by a heckler who reportedly made comments about his late mother during the team’s game against the Chicago White Sox.

According to MLB.com, the spectator made a derogatory remark about Marte’s mother, who passed away in a car accident in 2017.

Arizona’s Family spoke to sports psychiatrist Brook Choulet, M.D., about the effects inappropriate comments have on athletes’ mental health. She says this incident is a reminder that athletes are people, too, while viewers may sometimes see them just as performers.

“Because we’re watching them on TV, you forget and you lose touch that they go through a lot of the same things that we go through, stress, anxiety, family challenges. So to see this is such a human display of that person behind the sport,” she said.

D-backs manager Torey Lovullo consoled Marte after the fans’ outburst. Choulet explained this culture shift between coaches and players in today’s game versus years past.

“Before, it’s like suck it up, you know, just move on, focus on next play mentality, and now we’re really seeing coaches treating them as humans, too, beyond their sport,” she explained. “That’s the biggest thing I talk to athletes about is their identity is often tied to their sport. So when we can separate that athlete from the sport and see them and treat them as a person, I love to see that.”

Following the incident, many have shown support for the Diamondbacks and Marte, including the White Sox displaying a sign that read, “Baseball is family. The White Sox community supports Ketel Marte.”

Officials confirmed the heckler was banned from all Major League Baseball stadiums.

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WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has found that the California Department of Education and the state’s high school sports federation violated civil rights law by allowing transgender girls to compete on girls sports teams.

The federal Education Department announced the finding Wednesday and proposed a resolution that would require California to bar transgender women from women’s sports and strip transgender athletes of records, titles and awards. It’s the latest escalation in the Republican administration’s effort to bar transgender athletes from women’s sports teams nationwide.

If California rejects the proposal, the Education Department could move to terminate the state’s federal education funding.

“The Trump Administration will relentlessly enforce Title IX protections for women and girls, and our findings today make clear that California has failed to adhere to its obligations under federal law,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said. “The state must swiftly come into compliance with Title IX or face the consequences that follow.”

Title IX is a 1972 law forbidding sex discrimination based in education.

California education and sports officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

Federal officials opened an investigation into the California Interscholastic Federation in February after the organization said it would abide by a state law allowing athletes to compete on teams consistent with their gender identity. That followed an executive order signed by President Donald Trump that was intended to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls and women’s sports.

In April, McMahon’s department opened an investigation into the California Department of Education over the same issue.

Both investigations concluded that state policies violated Title IX. The administration has been invoking the law in its campaign against transgender athletes, launching scores of investigations into schools, colleges and states. It’s a reversal from the Biden administration, which attempted to expand Title IX to provide protections for transgender students. A federal judge struck down the expansion before Trump took office in January.

The administration’s proposed resolution would require California to notify schools that transgender athletes should be barred from girls athletic teams and that all schools must “adopt biology-based definitions of the words ‘male’ and ‘female.’ ” The state also would have to notify schools that any conflicting interpretation of state law would be considered a violation of Title IX.

Athletes who lost awards, titles or records to transgender athletes would have their honors restored under the proposal, and the state would be required to send personal apology letters to those athletes.

A similar resolution was offered to Maine’s education agency in a separate clash with the administration over transgender athletes. Maine rejected the proposal in April, prompting a Justice Department lawsuit seeking to terminate the state’s federal education funding.

Under federal guidelines, California’s education office and the sports federation have 10 days to come into compliance or risk enforcement action.

The federation separately tested a pilot policy at a state track meet in May, allowing one extra competitor in three events featuring high school junior AB Hernandez, who is transgender. The organization announced the change after Trump took to social medial to criticize Hernandez’s participation. The Justice Department said it would investigate Hernandez’s district and the state to determine whether Title IX was being violated.

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Governor Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 168, the Tristin Murphy Act to tackle mental health issues and prevent crime.

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Raquel McDonald will join the Slippery Rock University volleyball program as an assistant coach, head coach Dylan Lasher announced Wednesday.
 
“We’re very excited to have Raquel join our program,” said Lasher. “She will bring a great deal of energy, work ethic and commitment to SRU. Raquel’s passion, successful playing career and coaching ability will be extremely beneficial to our players, staff and community.”
 
McDonald comes to The Rock after spending two successful seasons on Lasher’s staff at Thiel College.
 
“I’m looking forward to starting this new chapter at Slippery Rock University and am excited for the opportunity to grow, contribute, face challenges and work alongside a great team,” said McDonald. “Let’s get to work!”
 
During her time at Thiel, McDonald assisted in all facets of the volleyball program and helped Lasher turn around the Tomcats’ women’s team that after going just 3-22 in 2023 compiled an impressive 17-9 record in 2024.
 
The 2024 season not only marked the second-highest victory total inside the Thiel women’s program since 2012, The 14-win improvement from 2023 to 2024 was the second-best year-to-year improvement among all 419 NCAA Division III women’s volleyball programs last fall.
 
McDonald was also an assistant for the Thiel men’s program which concluded its 2025 season with a 22-7 record that included a perfect 12-0 showing in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference, a PAC Tournament championship and an NCAA Tournament berth.
 
Prior to embarking on her coaching career, McDonald was a standout middle blocker for Thiel from 2019-22. Over 95 career matches, McDonald totaled 208 blocks, 660 kills and a .247 attack percentage while being named an All-PAC honoree on three occasions in addition to earning a spot on the College Sports Communicators Academic All-America Team as a senior.
 
McDonald, who ranks second in Tomcat program history in career attack percentage and ninth in total blocks, graduated from Thiel with her bachelor’s in cognitive psychology, sociology and criminal justice while minoring in Spanish. She is currently finishing her master’s in special education from SRU. 

Outside of volleyball, McDonald has served as a Behavioral Health Technician at George Junior Republic, taught Spanish at Kennedy Catholic High School and was the Director of Student Services at the William Penn Academy.
 
A native of Syracuse, New York, McDonald officially began her new role at SRU this week.
 
The Slippery Rock volleyball team opens its 2025 season 3 p.m. Sept. 3 against Elizabeth City State University at the Fairmont State Classic.

To stay up to date with all that happens at The Rock, follow our official Athletic Communication accounts on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter, @Rock_Athletics), Facebook (RockAthletics) and Instagram (RockAthletics).

Two-time U.S. figure skating champion Amber Glenn reflected on her mental health journey, starting with briefly stepping away from the sport in late 2015, in a TODAY interview that aired Tuesday.

“I was in a very dark place,” Glenn said, referring to 2015 and noting she was diagnosed with anxiety, depression and an eating disorder. “One of my friends contacted one of my parents, and I sought help. I’m so grateful for that.”

Glenn turned 16 years old during that time. She reflected for months and did step back on the ice.

“I had no idea (if I would go back to figure skating),” Glenn told TODAY. “I knew that there was no way I could go back to the way I was doing things. And eventually I got to a place where I was doing things in a healthy way, and I could speak about my struggles.”

In March 2016, while still on a break from competition, Glenn attended the World Championships women’s free skate in Boston.

She watched as American Ashley Wagner performed brilliantly, moving up from fourth place after the short program to earn a silver medal.

It was part inspiring and also part discouraging. Glenn didn’t believe at the time that she could ever reach that level.

“Growing up, I saw the top skaters as untouchable and as these people who didn’t have the same struggles that I was having at that age,” she said. “Eventually, I got a peek behind the curtain, and they were struggling in silence. After seeing that, I realized that it was more important for me to be honest about my journey than to try and act like everything was perfect.”

Eight years after that time away, Glenn won her first senior U.S. title in 2024, then repeated as champion this past January.

She also won this past December’s Grand Prix Final, the second-most prestigious annual international event after the World Championships.

Glenn is bidding to make the three-woman team for the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics, which will be decided by a committee after this upcoming January’s U.S. Championships.

At 26, she can become the oldest U.S. women’s singles skater to compete in an Olympics in 98 years.

“Part of me is still in disbelief,” Glenn told TODAY. “I need to trust that I put in the work to be here and that I do deserve it.”