WNBA star Tina Charles started a charity in 2013 to increase awareness and preparedness for sudden cardiac arrest, a cause that has come to the forefront after the on-field collapse of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin on Monday.

The 2012 WNBA MVP founded Hopey’s Heart Foundation to honor her aunt, Maureen “Hopey” Vaz, who died of multiple organ failure in March 2013. The organization provides AED donations and CPR training to schools and community centers.

Hopey’s Heart Foundation has donated 447 AEDs to date, per its website.

“I see it as the more AEDs out there we can help combat sudden cardiac arrest,” Charles said in 2014. “The more AEDs out there the better chance people will have.”

When Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest during the Bills’ Monday night game against the Cincinnati Bengals, medical personnel rushed onto the field, where they performed CPR and used an AED to help the 24-year-old. He remains in critical condition Wednesday at a Cincinnati hospital.

CPR helps blood to pump through the body, and an AED (which stands for automated external defibrillator) sends an electrical shock to the heart to restore its rhythm.

Fewer than 40 percent of people who experience cardiac arrest outside of a hospital receive CPR from someone nearby, and fewer than 12 percent have an automated external defibrillator (AED) applied before emergency responders arrive, per the American Heart Association.

When a person has cardiac arrest in a public place, the chance of survival drops to about 10 percent, but the odds are better when CPR is performed and an AED is used. Nine in 10 cardiac arrest victims who receive a shock from an AED in the first minute survive, per the American Heart Association.

“During the past several decades, mortality has decreased, in part because of community-based emergency rescue programs using defibrillators and CPR,” cardiologist Sandeep Jauhar told the Washington Post. “People should definitely be trained in how to use an AED. There should be one available and ready for use in public venues. People should also learn how to administer CPR. It can be the difference between life and death.”

Charles, who played for the Phoenix Mercury and the Seattle Storm in 2022 and enters offseason as free agent, describes playing basketball as her career but promoting CPR and AED readiness as her mission.

“Scoring points is my job,” she told ESPN in 2014. “It’s what I’m supposed to do. But with an AED, you’re able to save a life. This is just something from my heart, and any accolades I receive about my work in the community mean more to me than the MVP award I won.”

Star US distance swimmer Katie Ledecky is back to her old tricks, registering her fastest 1,500-meter freestyle in seven years — and the event's second-best time in history — at the 2025 TYR Pro Swim Series in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Wednesday.

The nine-time Olympic gold medalist finished the 30 pool lengths in 15:24.51, just missing the world-record 15:20.48 race time she posted in 2018.

Ledecky now holds the 1,500-meter freestyle's top 22 fastest times in women's swimming history — all of which would have won Wednesday's final race, where she defeated second-place finisher Jillian Cox — a University of Texas freshman — by a full 39 seconds.

Even more, Ledecky didn't slow down after her 1,500-meter performance posting her fastest 400-meter freestyle in nine years the very next day.

In the final lap of the race, the 28-year-old staged a comeback to pass Canadian teenage phenom and 2024 Olympic silver medalist Summer McIntosh and secure the win.

Her time of 3:56.81 just missed the US record of 3:56.46 that Ledecky previously claimed along with a gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

"I don't know if I ever thought I was going to be 3:56 again," Ledecky said in her post-race broadcast interview. "I'm just really happy with all the work that I've put in to get to this point."

How to watch Ledecky at the 2025 TYR Pro Swim Series

The 2025 TYR Pro Swim Series continues through Saturday, with Ledecky competing in Friday's 200-meter freestyle final prior to racing in the 800-meter freestyle on Saturday.

Both races will begin at 6 PM ET on their respective days.

Live coverage of the meet will stream on Peacock on Friday before shifting to the USA Swimming Network on Saturday.

The English Football Association (FA) announced Thursday that it will ban trans women athletes from playing women's soccer starting with the 2025/26 season, with the governing body's new policy officially going into effect on June 1st.

Previously, the FA allowed trans women athletes to play on women's teams as long as they had "blood testosterone within natal female range."

The move comes after April 16th's landmark ruling from the UK's highest court, which states that gender equality protections only apply to what the court called "biological women" — and that trans women do not legally meet that definition.

The Scottish FA followed suit, also releasing its decision to ban trans women athletes from competitive play on Thursday.

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Notably, there are currently no trans women playing anywhere on the UK's professional football pyramid. However, some 72 trans athletes played in FA grassroots matches over the last decade.

Today, an estimated 20 to 30 trans players participate in that growing grassroots system, an initiative created to advance the FA's four "game-changer" priorities — one of which is to "see a game free from discrimination."

“We understand that this will be difficult for people who simply want to play the game they love in the gender by which they identify, and we are contacting the registered transgender women currently playing to explain the changes and how they can continue to stay involved in the game,” the association said in Thursday's statement.

"It is clear these abrupt changes have been made on legal advice following the recent UK Supreme Court ruling, as there remains no football-specific peer-reviewed research or evidence that shows the existing policies constitute a safety risk," stated advocacy group Pride Sports in response. "One consequence of these bans will, inevitably, be a rise in incidents of transphobia in football."

This weekend's NWSL action features top-table battles, Cinderella hopefuls, and a whole slew of teams hunting redemption wins to open May's league play.

Perched at the top of the NWSL standings, the Kansas City Current sits tied for points with the second-place Orlando Pride, while just four points separate the remaining six teams currently above the postseason cutoff line.

With last week's rollercoaster results setting up redemption arcs for this weekend's slate, the 2025 NWSL season's seventh matchday is full of bounce-back opportunities, a tight race to the top, and a California clash:

• No. 3 Washington Spirit vs. No. 9 Angel City FC, Friday at 8 PM ET (Prime): Both the Spirit and Angel City are coming off disappointing losses, with once-unbeaten LA slipping out of the Top-8 on a two-match skid. Can either contender regain their early season form?

• No. 7 Seattle Reign FC vs. No. 1 Kansas City Current, Friday at 10:30 PM ET (Paramount+): The Reign are hanging tough after two weeks of adding points, but they'll face a redemption-hunting Current squad determined to rebound from their first season loss last weekend.

• No. 6 Portland Thorns vs. No. 2 Orlando Pride, Saturday at 7:30 PM ET (ION): The Thorns have gained points in five of their last six games, and Portland will need all that resilience against a challenging Pride side that's more than capable of mounting their own comebacks.

• No. 5 San Diego Wave vs. No. 8 Bay FC, Sunday at 8 PM ET (Paramount+): The weekend's marquee matchup pits the Wave — quietly finding their identity under new coach Jonas Eidevall — against Bay FC in a California clash where neither team can afford to lose much ground.

It's back-to-school weekend for the WNBA, as teams travel to stars' old collegiate stomping grounds to tip off a series of preseason exhibitions.

While preseason matchups don't carry the same weight as opening day, the league raised the stakes this year to give fans a taste of what's to come during the gap between March Madness and the May 16th 2025 WNBA season tip-off.

Kicking off the preseason party is this year's No. 1 draft pick Paige Bueckers, who will make her professional debut when the Dallas take on Las Vegas on Friday. The showdown will occur at Notre Dame's Purcell Pavilion, as both teams boast Fighting Irish alumni in the Wings' Arike Ogunbowale and the Aces' Jackie Young and Jewell Loyd.

Later on Friday, reunited LSU teammates Angel Reese and Hailey Van Lith will return to the Baton Rouge court when the Chicago Sky tips off against the Brazil Women's National Team.

After facing the Washington Mystics on Saturday, Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever will travel to the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year's alma mater Iowa for their own date with Brazil on Sunday.

Fever fans will be particularly grateful that Sunday clash will receive national airtime, as resale tickets for the sold-out game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena are averaging upwards of $440 apiece.

To cap off the weekend, Sunday will also see the new-look Connecticut Sun will battle a Seattle Storm squad hungry to jump back into title contention this season.

Though the exhibition results won't matter, testing players in front of a crowd while building excitement for the upcoming 2025 season can be just as crucial for teams as they look to polish their rosters over the next two weeks.

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How to watch this weekend's WNBA preseason games

Friday will see the Dallas Wings take on the Las Vegas Aces at 7 PM ET followed by the Chicago Sky's matchup against Brazil at 9 PM ET, with both games airing live on ION.

Indiana's busy weekend begins with Saturday's 1 PM ET clash with Washington on NBA TV before the Fever face Brazil at 4 PM ET on Sunday, airing live on ESPN.

The weekend's final exhibition pits Connecticut against Seattle at 6 PM ET on Sunday, with live coverage available with the WNBA League Pass.