COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (ABC4) – A Colorado volleyball tournament will no longer be a qualifying event for USA Volleyball after multiple coaches were kept out of this year’s event for breastfeeding.
Among those mothers was Utahn Dixie Loveless, owner of Mountain Peak Volleyball in Logan.
“I let them know she is a nursing baby, so she has to stay with me, she has to eat,” Loveless told ABC4 affiliate KDVR. On one of the first days of the tournament, she was able to bring her 4-month-old baby in when a security guard was unsure about the policy. But the next day, she was stopped at the door.
Another mother tells KDVR a security member told her she had five minutes to get off the premises after she had brought her twin babies in.
USA Volleyball, at the time, “expressed its disagreement with this decision to the tournament director” and is encouraged “the tournament to reverse the regulation.”
Now, the governing board for volleyball in the U.S. has released a new statement, saying:
“In light of recent events and effective immediately, USA Volleyball has terminated its agreement with Colorado Crossroads Girls Junior National Qualifier. Effective 2022 and beyond, Colorado Crossroads will no longer be a qualifying event for the USA Volleyball Girls Junior National Championship. USA Volleyball will honor all bids that have been awarded to teams who competed in the event in 2021.”
KDVR reports tournament director Kay Rogness held firm on the decision to not allow the nursing coaches and other mothers breastfeeding their babies into the event at the Colorado Convention Center.
