Amanda Chidester and Anissa Urtez are engaged to be married, and they’ll battle against each other at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. (Instagram)
A recently-engaged lesbian couple, both softball players, are set to face off against each other at the Tokyo Olympics on separate teams.
Amanda Chidester plays for the United States softball team, while Anissa Urtez plays for Mexico’s team – but that didn’t deter the women from striking up a relationship.
Earlier this year, Amanda popped the question, and the pair have been practicing their softball skills with each other throughout the pandemic – but once they’re on the field, it’s game on.
The couple opened up about what it’s like to be in a relationship with a direct competitor on the Five Rings to Rule Them All podcast.
Chidester said having the “extra time” to train was a “blessing in disguise” after the Olympics was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“We definitely have our hopes high right now because it’s still on thank goodness,” Chidester said of the Olympics.
“That’s just how we’re staying positive and continuing to train and working together definitely helps because we’re definitely accountability partners,” she added.
However, once they’re on the field at next year’s Olympics, they will be fierce competitors, they said.
Speaking about the Tokyo Olympics, set to go ahead in 2021, Chidester said: “We’ve had a bunch of conversations about it. Whoever medals, we’re going to be happy for each other no matter what. No matter what.”
Uretz added: “We don’t know each other when we’re on the field. It’s game on.”
Elsewhere in the interview, the couple opened up about how they met while playing softball – and how they got engaged earlier this year.
Chidester proposed to Uretz earlier this year when they went on a trip with some mutual friends. Uretz said she had “no idea” that the proposal was going to happen.
Lesbian softball couple’s engagement was ‘perfect’.
“I knew it was going happen eventually,” she said. “I didn’t think it was going to happen in the fall, maybe in the spring of 2021 or something.”
She added: “The ring was beautiful, it was perfect, the location was beautiful too. So I’m definitely happy with out it turned out.”
Uretz also opened up about her coming-out experience, saying she was “fortunate” to not face any “terrible backlash” due to her sexuality.
“I have had some issues with family and it was definitely tough with my mom at first,” she said.
“Being able to have those conversations with my mom was so hard because she felt like she did something wrong, and so with that, I guess it made me feel like I was a bad person in a way, like I was doing something wrong.”
Uretz said her mother is “more on board now” as she can see that being open about her sexuality has made her a happier person.
She also revealed that she came out to some of her extended family on her father’s side only after Chidester proposed this year.
“It was definitely a relief, and I think it’s made my family closer to be able to just be open with them about my personal life, because I never was before,” she said.