Two-time WNBA MVP Breanna Stewart and wife Marta Xargay are officially parents of two. Stewart announced the birth of their second child, son Theo Josep Stewart Xargay, in an Instagram post Sunday.

“Welcome to the world, little man,” Stewart wrote in the caption. “11 lbs., 12 oz. (your mama was a trooper).”

Stewart and Xargay initially announced the pregnancy on Mother’s Day in May, and Stewart revealing during the New York Liberty’s exit interviews after the WNBA Finals in mid-October that the baby boy was due the following week. Theo came into the world on Oct. 25.

The couple also have a daughter, Ruby. Since her birth in August 2021, she has become a fixture at Stewart’s games and in postgame press conferences.

While Stewart previously has played in international leagues during the offseason, she told the New York Daily News last week that she has not decided whether she will do so during this offseason. The Liberty intend to place the core designation on their star, who is a free agent this offseason, to keep her in New York.

“Once we get into a good groove of having two [kids], which I’m not sure when that group comes, we’ll figure out the rest,” Stewart said of her offseason plans.

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Spain's High Court issued a guilty verdict to Luis Rubiales early Thursday morning, finding that the former Spanish football federation president sexually assaulted Spain national team striker Jenni Hermoso.

The two-week trial centered on Rubiales forcibly kissing Hermoso during the 2023 World Cup trophy ceremony, as well as coercion attempts by both Rubiales and three other co-defendants to prod Hermoso into telling the public that the kiss was consensual after the fact.

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Rubiales fined but avoids jail sentence

In the ruling, the court ordered Rubiales to pay a fine of €10,800 for the assault offense, but cleared him of coercion alongside the other trio of ex-federation officials.

Rubiales faced up to four years in prison if convicted on both charges, with prosecutors arguing for an incarceration period of two-and-a-half years. Also on the table was a maximum €50,000 in damages as well as a permanent ban on Rubiales from ever serving as a sports official again.

In addition to the fine, the judge banned Rubiales from communicating with or being within a 200-meter radius of Hermoso for one year. He must also compensate her an additional €3,000 for "moral damage."

In his delivery, Judge José Manuel Fernández-Prieto deemed the kiss "not the normal way of greeting people with whom one does not have an emotional relationship."

Despite calling it a "reprehensible act," the judge ruled against prison time on the basis that there was no intimidation or violence.

"The pecuniary penalty must be chosen, which is less serious than the custodial sentence," Fernández-Prieto explained in his ruling.

Rubiales sentencing earns praise and consternation

While many are celebrating Thursday's guilty verdict, the Rubiales's punishment sparked differing reactions — namely due to the lack of incarceration time.

Applauding the outcome was Spain’s minister of equality Ana Redondo, who tweeted, "When there is no consent, there is aggression, and that is what the judge certifies in this sentence."

On the other hand, the Federation of Progressive Women, a Spanish nonprofit that fights for gender equity, said the minimal sentencing sparked "deep disappointment."

"It has a deactivating effect on complaints from women who suffer #sexualviolence, reinforces distrust in the judicial system, and strengthens aggressors."

The 2025 SheBelieves Cup kicks off on Thursday, when head coach Emma Hayes’s refreshed USWNT roster will take on No. 21 Colombia at Houston’s Shell Energy Stadium.

The match is the first of three international friendlies that the world No. 1 USWNT will play during the annual tournament's 10th edition, with games against No. 15 Australia and No. 8 Japan set for Sunday and Wednesday, respectively.

SheBelieves to test young USWNT players

With a number of big-name veterans missing from the February roster and the road to the 2027 World Cup just beginning, Hayes is using the 2025 SheBelieves Cup to try out less experienced USWNT players against some of the world’s best contenders.

"The reality is we have top ability, that's clear, but we want to develop a combination of things: their personal resilience, which we do, and their learning mindset," Hayes told reporters earlier this week.

"We give them the opportunity, and that opportunity will either tell us that they're ready now, or they're ready later."

One guaranteed area of focus throughout the tournament will be goalkeeping, as the USWNT seeks a replacement for previous mainstay Alyssa Naeher, who hung up her boots at the end of 2024.

With Naeher and her 115 career appearances behind them, Hayes confirmed that both Jane Campbell and Mandy McGlynn are expected to earn starts during this window.

Campbell, the net-minder for the NWSL's Houston Dash, has eight caps with the USWNT, while Utah Royals keeper McGlynn earned her first and only appearance in the team's 3-0 win over Argentina last October.

"[Campbell and McGlynn] have to demonstrate they can make the important decisions under pressure — both sides of the ball," Hayes noted.

With Hayes firmly past the "must win" mode with which she began her USWNT tenure, her next challenge is to properly test this new next-gen roster’s resilience, as the slow and steady ramp-up to the Brazil-hosted 2027 World Cup outweighs immediate results.

How to watch the USWNT vs. Colombia in the SheBelieves Cup

The USWNT will kick off against Colombia at 8 PM ET on Thursday, with live coverage across TBS, Max, and Peacock.

The PWHL Player Safety Committee issued fines to two star players on Tuesday, after reviewing penalties that occurred during Saturday’s matchup between the Montréal Victoire and the New York Sirens.

Victoire forward Marie-Philip Poulin was charged a $500 fine for roughing in the second period. The Committee found that she "exhibited no attempt at playing the puck as she hit her opponent in retaliatory fashion."

Forward Dara Greig also caught a fine for a second-period penalty. There, the PWHL issued a $250 penalty charge for boarding after determining that Greig's check came "from behind and caused her opponent to impact the boards dangerously."

The league-leading Victoire went on to beat the Sirens 6-2.

Poulin pays back-to-back PWHL fines

This week’s ruling marked Greig’s first-ever PWHL fine. However, Victoire captain Poulin has now tallied two, with her first coming less than two weeks ago. That was when she incurred a $250 fine after a major penalty for charging during Montréal's 2-1 win over the Sirens on February 2nd.

In that incident, Poulin avoided an immediate "game misconduct" determination by on-ice referees. As outlined by PWHL rules, it was ruled that the charge did not cause injury to the head or face of her opponent.

Unlike Poulin's first fine, both her second and Greig's initial offense came from incidents that constituted minor penalties during competition.

PWHL monitors player safety in growing pro women's league

Operating under a new set of rules governing both gameplay and disciplinary action, the second-year women’s pro ice hockey league is still navigating how to handle penalties and when to impose fines.

Charting the league's disciplinary course is especially complex in a sport where body checking and other forms of physicality are hallmarks of the game.

When those tactics are deployed strategically, they can intensify the PWHL's already tough competition. However, that's only as long as the league's safety guardrails are clear enough to ensure player protection.

Last week, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics recommended that all three Divisions should sponsor legislation adding flag football to the collegiate governing body's Emerging Sports for Women program.

The program aims to address gender equity by offering up-and-coming women's sports a sanctioned interim growth period at the varsity level.

Once added to the program, a sport has 10 years in which to establish a minimum of 40 school-sponsored varsity teams. Participating schools must also meet certain competition and regulatory requirements for the sport to ultimately earn official NCAA championship status.

Growth spurs NCAA efforts to elevate flag football

With the announcement that flag football will make its Olympic debut at the 2028 LA Games, the sport has seen increased popularity across the US. That interest has sparked inquiries into upping the sport’s competitive status at the NCAA level — particularly from women athletes.

At least 65 NCAA schools currently offer women's flag football at either the club or varsity level, with more slated to join in 2026, per the NCAA.

Division III's Atlantic East Conference will officially become the first NCAA league to sponsor the sport this year, with seven teams set to kick off their inaugural varsity season next month.

Division II's Conference Carolinas will join the varsity flag football party during the 2025/26 academic year, with at least six programs competing in that inaugural season.

Outside the NCAA, the NAIA — a governing body that oversees collegiate athletics at more than 200 mostly private schools — has been officially sponsoring women's flag football since 2020.

The NFL is also involved in growing the women's game, partnering with Atlantic East's efforts and recently advocating for flag football to become a girl’s high school varsity sport in all 50 states in a 2025 Super Bowl commercial.

Currently, just 14 states sponsor girl's high school flag football at the varsity level, though 18 more have pilot programs to test future state-wide sanctioning.

Emerging Sports program boosts NCAA gender equity

If the NCAA committee's recommended legislation successfully advances, flag football will join the likes of rugby, stunt, triathlon, acrobatics and tumbling, and equestrian in the Emerging Sports for Women program.

Since its 1994 establishment, the program has seen five women's sports — ice hockey, beach volleyball, rowing, water polo, and bowling — elevate to full NCAA championship status.

With its first championship season slated for 2025/26, women's wrestling will soon graduate from the program to become the NCAA's 91st title-winning sport.

All in all, enthusiasm for both youth and adult flag football is on the rise across the US, with this latest news indicating that the sport will likely join the college fold sooner rather than later.