Male volleyball players are much stronger and spike the ball much harder than female volleyball players. This is why the net for Mens Volleyball is nearly 8 feet high while the net for Womens Volleyball is 7 feet 4 inches high. Men hit the ball so hard that allowing Men to play on a Womens team with a Women’s Net has caused permanent injuries to Women players. For example, in September 2022, a North Carolina female high school volleyball player named Payton McNabb was severely injured when she was hit in the face by a volleyball spiked at her by a Trans biological male. Here is an image of her just after impact. See Payton in the lower left corner:
https://nypost.com/2023/04/21/nc-volleyball-player-urges-transgender-ban-for-schools-female-sports/
In addition to being dangerous, allowing males to compete on Womens Volleyball teams violates a federal law called Title IX which requires that girls and woment be given equal and fair opportunities in sports competition. Allowing a male to be on a Women’s Volleyball team deprives Women of the opportunity for fair sports competition. It also deprives women of scholarship opporunities when sports scholarships intended for women are given to males. In addition, males who who pretend to be females have taken at least 578 athletic victories from women. Despite these facts, during the past few years, sports scholarships intended for women players have been illegally given to Trans Male players.
A Secret Takeover of Girls and Womens Sports
Giving males spots on female teams has often been done in secret – without informing girls and women who are forced to compete against males. For example, in March 2022, a biological male who called himself Lia Thomas and who was ranked #550 when he competed as a male, beat 3 biological females to win the NCAA Women’s Swimming Title. The women swimmers were not told until just before the match that they would not only have to compete against this male, but that they would have to share their locker room with this male!
In May, 2024, girls participating in the Washington State Track Championship were not told that they would have to compete against a male runner until just before the race. Here is an image showing this male far ahead of the four fastest girls:
In 2024, women on the San Jose State Volleyball team were told to room with a new volleyball player without being told that the new volleyball player was a biological male! When they found out, school officials told them that they had to keep the secret that there was a male on their team hidden from the press and from opposing teams. But eventually the truth came out. When it did, in September and October 2024, five Womens Volleyball teams staged a boycott against this Trans male pretending to be a woman.
The NCAA refuses to make available information to student-athletes regarding whether any of their opponents are males who have been granted the opportunity to compete on a women’s team.
Boycott against Trans Male Volleyball Player Begins
On September 14, the Southern Utah Womens Volleyball team voted to cancel their match against San Jose State. Two weeks later, on September 28, the Boise State Womens Team voted to forfeit their match against San Jose State. A week later, on October 5, the Wyoming Womens Team voted to forfeit their match against San Jose State. Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon supported the team saying, “it is important we stand for integrity and fairness in female athletics. The Utah State Womens Team announced that they voted to forfeit their match to San Jose State which had been scheduled for October 23.
Nevada Womens Volleyball Team votes to join the boycott
On October 14, 2024, the Nevada Womens Team announced that they had voted unanimously to forfeit their game against San Jose State which was scheduled for October 26, 2024. In reponse, Nevada univerity officials falsely claimed that federal law required Nevada to play the game. In fact, what Title IX really requires is that the Nevada Womens team be given fair and equal opportunities for sports competition. So it is Nevada University offficials who are actually violating federal law.
In response to the University claim that the game would be played, the Nevada Womens Team issued the following statement making it clear that they would not play this game: “We, the University of Nevada Reno women’s volleyball team, forfeit against San Jose State University and stand united in solidarity with the volleyball teams of Southern Utah University, Boise State University, the University of Wyoming, and Utah State University. We demand that our right to safety and fair competition on the court be upheld. We refuse to participate in any match that advances injustice against female athletes.”
Sia Liilii, a senior and one of two captains on the Nevada team, stated: "We decided that we're going to stand in solidarity with other teams that have already forfeited and that we wouldn't participate in a game that advances sex-based discrimination or injustice against female athletes".
National support for the Boycott grows
The state governor of Nevada has backed the female athletes after they forfeited their match against San Jose State. Joe Lombardo said he respects their decision and has 'safety concerns'.
The governors of Idaho, Utah and Wyoming have also said they support the boycott. Idaho Gov. Brad Little said “We need to ensure player safety for all of our female athletes and continue the fight for fairness in women’s sports.”
On October 15, Presidential candidate Donald Trump spoke out in favor of the boycott saying if he’s elected he’ll use an executive order to outlaw transgender competitors at all levels. Trump said: “I saw the slam, it was a slam. I never saw a ball hit so hard, hit the girl in the head,” Trump said. “Other people, even in volleyball, they’ve been really hurt badly. Women playing men… we stop it. We absolutely stop it.”
Riley Gaines, host of the OutKick podcast "Gaines for Girls" and one of the most influential pro-woman voices in the country, lauded the Nevada team for their bravery: "I applaud these athletes for setting boundaries and prioritizing their safety over victory. They've shown far more courage and leadership than the president of the university and the President of this country. A movement is forming, where athletes take control of their future."
Former Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, as a U.S. representative in 2020, sponsored legislation to ban transgender athletes from participating in women’s collegiate athletics. She told the Nevada Womens Team she was proud of them for having the courage to stand up for their right to fair competition.
On October 17, 2024, the Nevada GOP is issuing a statement of support for Nevada’s women’s volleyball team:
“The Nevada Republican Party stands firmly with the young women of the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) women’s volleyball team, who recently made the decision to forfeit a match in protest of an opponent fielding a biological man. Their concerns centered on fairness and safety for female athletes. While the university has called for the game to be played in the name of equality, we believe that true equality means protecting the integrity of women’s sports. For decades, women have fought for a level playing field, and allowing men to compete in women’s categories undermines this hard-won progress and presents serious physical risks to female athletes. The Nevada Republican Party applauds the UNR volleyball team’s principled stand for fairness and safety. Women’s sports were created to empower women, and no athlete should have to sacrifice that in the name of misguided policies.”
October 17 Update: Today during a volleyball match between San Jose State and New Mexico, a spike from the Trans Male volleyball player hit a New Mexico player in the head and decked her as shown below:
Here were some social media comments:
and
San Jose State Womens Volleyball Player joins national lawsuit against NCAA for allowing males to compete in Womens sports
On September 23, 2024, Brooke Slusser a captain on the San Jose Womens Volleyball team joined Riley Gaines and 18 other female athletes in a lawsuit in federal court against the NCAA for allowing male athletes, like her teammate, to compete in women’s sports. Here is a link to their 208 page complaint:
https://www.iconswomen.com/take-on-the-ncaa/#filing
Slusser has publicly supported the boycott against her San Jose State team:
The lawsuit argues that allowing males onto the Womens teams violates Title IX by compromising fairness, safety, and privacy for women. Here are some quotes from this lawsuit:
The NCAA is aware of significant scientific research demonstrating that men have inherent athletic advantages over women. The NCAA and the other Defendants knew or should have known that the NCAA’s Transgender Eligibility Policies violate Title IX because they result in numerous discriminatory impacts against women (“Discriminatory Impacts”), including:
a. preventing women from even knowing whether they are competing against men in women’s sports,
b. authorizing men to compete on women’s teams or in the women’s category of competitions,
c. subjecting women to a higher risk of injury in sport by allowing men to access women’s showers, locker rooms, restrooms and other such safe spaces and depriving women of the right to know biological men are accessing their safe spaces,
f. depriving women of equal access to separate showers, locker rooms, and associated restroom facilities which protect their right to bodily privacy,
g.diminishing equal opportunities and resources for women,
h.diverting opportunities and resources to men,
i.subjecting women to a loss of privacy and emotional harm,
j.depriving women of a fair opportunity to compete in college sports,
k. depriving women of a fair opportunity to prepare to compete in college sports by allowing men to access women’s spaces including
women’s locker rooms, depriving women of a fair opportunity to compete for titles, placements, and recognition at NCAA national championships, and
m. suppressing the free speech rights of women and men advocating for the rights of biological women to a fair opportunity to compete, separate and equal locker rooms and a correct application of Title IX.
The NCAA distributes more than $600,000,000 (six hundred million dollars) annually to its members… Division I athletic departments at NCAA member institutions spend approximately twice as much on men’s programs compared to women’s programs… The NCAA Policy on Transgender Student-Athlete Participation is not supported by any scientific research or study commissioned by the NCAA.
The Male-Female Sport Performance Gap
The reason for sex-separated sport (i.e., for creating separate men’s and women’s teams or a separate women’s category) and the reason the Title IX regulations endorse sex-separated sports teams is to give women a meaningful opportunity to compete that they would be denied were they required to compete against men.
Developmental biologist Dr. Emma N. Hilton and sport physiologist Dr. Tommy R. Lundberg report that “the performance gap between males and females . . . often amounts to 10 – 50% depending on sport.” Hilton, E.N., Lundberg, T.R., “Transgender Women in the Female Category of Sport: Perspectives on Testosterone Suppression and Performance Advantage,” Sports Medicine (2021) 51:199-214, p. 199.
Hilton and Lundberg note that the sport performance gap between men and women is not limited to certain sports but applies generally to most skills necessary for success in sport.
The source of male athletic performance advantages over women is attributed by many scientists to genetic differences between males and females and the effects higher levels of testosterone have on the male body throughout male development. The developmental and physiological effects brought about by genetic differences between males and females and higher levels of circulating testosterone in males begin well before puberty. In the womb and in the 6-9 month “mini puberty” phase immediately post birth natal males experience endogenous synthesis and secretion of higher levels of testosterone than natal females, triggering differentiation in male body structure beginning even before birth. The result is “is a clear sex difference in both muscle mass and strength even adjusting for sex differences in height and weight. On average women have 50% to 60% of men’s upper arm muscle cross-sectional area and 65% to 75% of men’s thigh muscle cross-sectional area, and women have 50% to 60% of men’s upper limb strength and 60% to 80% of men’s leg strength. Young men have on average a skeletal muscle mass of >12 kg greater than age-matched women at any given body weight.”
The impact of these differences is “an obvious performance enhancing effect, in particular in sports that depend on strength and (explosive) power, such as track and field events.” Also, “levels of circulating hemoglobin are androgen-dependent and consequently higher in men than in women by 12%.”
Testosterone Suppression Does Not Bridge the Male-Female Sport Performance Gap
Despite the science-backed dividing line for eligibility in women’s sport provided by Title IX, which is sex and sex alone, the NCAA has chosen to define eligibility in women’s collegiate sport in terms of testosterone suppression by allowing men to compete as women by suppressing testosterone to a certain level that is still above the female range. The NCAA gives men who wish to compete against women the option to suppress testosterone to a level that is still above the highest level a female can produce.
Peer reviewed scientific research papers confirm testosterone suppression does not bridge the Male-Female Sport Performance Gap. In one peer reviewed article researchers studied the effects of a year of hormone suppression on males and found that while males on hormone suppression experienced some reduction in muscle mass, they “generally maintained their strength levels.”
Wiik, Anna, et al., “Muscle Strength, Size, and Composition Following 12 Months of Gender-affirming Treatment in Transgender Individuals,” J Clin Endocrinol Metab, March 2020, 105(3):e805–e813, available at: https://academic.oup.com/jcem
In another report, researchers Hilton and Lundberg concluded “that under testosterone suppression regimes typically used in clinical settings, and which comfortably exceed the requirements of sports federations for inclusion of transgender women in female sports categories by reducing testosterone levels to well below the upper tolerated limit, evidence for loss of the male performance advantage, established by testosterone at puberty and translating in elite athletes to a 10–50% performance advantage, is lacking.”
Hilton, E.N., Lundberg, T., “Transgender Women in the Female Category of Sport: Perspectives on Testosterone Suppression and Performance Advantage,” Sports Medicine, (2021) 51:199-214, p. 211.
Hilton and Lundberg continued: Rather, the data show that strength, lean body mass, muscle size and bone density are only trivially affected. The reductions observed in muscle mass, size, and strength are very small compared to the baseline differences between males and females in these variables, and thus, there are major performance and safety implications in sports where these attributes are competitively significant. These data significantly undermine the delivery of fairness and safety presumed by the criteria set out in transgender inclusion policies, particularly given the stated prioritization of fairness as an overriding objective. If those policies are intended to preserve fairness, inclusion and the safety of biologically female athletes, sporting organizations may need to reassess their policies regarding inclusion of transgender women.
Peer reviewed scientific studies confirm testosterone suppression does relatively little to mitigate the strength, speed, size, power and other athletically relevant differences between men and women.
A review published in April 2023 reported there have been a total of 19 published peer reviewed research reports on the effects of testosterone suppression (as part of gender affirming hormone treatment or “GAHT”) on performance. Even after 3 years of testosterone suppression there are still lasting male athletic advantages in transwomen. See
“Should Transwomen be allowed to Compete in Women’s Sports?” Brown, Gregory A., Ph.D. and Lundberg, Tommy, Ph.D., available at: https://www.sportpolicycenter.com/news/2023/4/17/should-transwomen-be-allowed-to-compete-in-womens-sports
The NCAA’s Transgender Eligibility Policies Allow Men to Compete Against Women While Retaining Higher Levels of Testosterone Than Women
The ranges of testosterone produced by men and women do not overlap. Men produce far more testosterone than women and there is a significant gap between the upper end of the testosterone range for women and the lower end of the testosterone range for men. A 2018 metanalysis established that in healthy individuals there is “a clear bimodal distribution of testosterone levels, with the lower end of the male range being four- to five-fold higher than the upper end of the female range (males 8.8-30.9 nmol/L, females 0.4-2.0 nmol/L).” Clark RV, Wald JA, Swerdloff RS, et al., “Large divergence in testosterone concentrations between men and women: Frame of reference for elite athletes in sex-specific competition in sports, a narrative review.” Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 2019; 90:15–22. https://doi.org/10.1111/cen.13840
The <10 nmol/L testosterone threshold used by the NCAA for granting eligibility to men to compete against women in most NCAA sports is five times higher than the upper end of the female testosterone range, twenty-five times higher than the testosterone level of females at the lower end of the female range, and includes testosterone levels that are within the normal male range of 8.8 nmol/L to 30.9 nmol/L. Importantly, the female range of 0.4 nmol/L to 2.0 nmol/L includes elite female athletes. This means that even after “suppression” men are allowed to compete in the women’s category with testosterone levels far higher than any female athlete could ever achieve. These facts further confirm the NCAA’s policy disparately impacts women.
Brooke provides details on harm her and her team mates are experiencing due to being required to tolerate a male on their female team
Brooke transferred from the University of Alabama to SJSU in 2023. Brooke is a scholarship athlete and currently a co-captain of the 2024 SJSU women’s volleyball team. Upon transferring to SJSU in the Fall of 2023 Brooke began sharing a residence with four members of the SJSU women’s volleyball team.
One of the teammates with whom Brooke shared a residence at SJSU in 2023 was Blaire Fleming, a scholarship athlete, who was then a junior and is now a senior volleyball player on the SJSU women’s team. Fleming is a male who identifies as transgender and who claims a female identity. Fleming has played at SJSU on the women’s volleyball team during the 2022, 2023 and 2024 seasons.
At no point during Brooke’s recruitment from the University of Alabama or during the 2023 volleyball season did either SJSU or Fleming advise Brooke that Fleming is a male, even though it was known to SJSU that Brooke was rooming with Fleming.
Brooke was frequently assigned by the SJSU athletic department to room with Fleming on road trips to competitions even though Fleming is male and without Brooke being informed by SJSU that Fleming is male.
Brooke was not aware for months after her arrival at SJSU that Fleming is male. However, towards the end of the 2023 volleyball season Brooke learned that Fleming is male when Brooke overheard a conversation between two students, who are not members of the SJSU women’s volleyball team, in which a statement was made that Fleming is a “guy.” Upon overhearing the remark, Brooke inquired and was told that Fleming is a “dude.”
Brooke was surprised to learn Fleming is male, although this was consistent with Brooke’s observation that Fleming played volleyball with jumping ability and power that surpassed that of any girl on the team.
As Fleming had not informed Brooke that he was male or transgender, and as the SJSU women’s volleyball team coaches had not told the team that Blaire was male, Brooke was initially unsure about how to proceed with this new information. Brooke ended up not discussing what she had learned about Fleming’s true sex for the rest of the 2023-24 school year while she thought about how to respond.
Brooke did learn however that the reason she had been assigned to room with Fleming so often during road trips in the 2023 season was that SJSU officials asked Fleming who he wanted to room with, and he chose Brooke. At the times she was assigned to room with Fleming during the 2023 season, Brooke had no idea that Fleming was being given the choice of which girl he wanted to room with on team road trips.
In April 2024 an online news article was published stating that Blaire Fleming was male, but Brooke was not immediately aware of the publication of this news article. When Brooke got back to her apartment near the end of the day that the article about Fleming was published, Fleming and another student asked if Brooke would go with them to get a sandwich because there was something Fleming wanted to say. At that time, Fleming told Brooke that he was born male and considered himself to be a “transgender woman.”
Brooke asked why Fleming had not shared this information with her before, particularly as they had been living together. Fleming responded that there never seemed to be a good time to bring it up.
Brooke was uncomfortable with Fleming continuing on the SJSU women’s volleyball team as she questioned whether it was safe or fair for the other women on the team and for opposing teams for Fleming to compete on the women’s team.
Soon thereafter, SJSU officials convened a meeting to address the news article about Fleming’s sex. In this meeting SJSU officials told the SJSU women’s volleyball team members that they should not speak about Fleming’s sex or gender identity with anyone outside the team.
The women’s volleyball team members were told by SJSU representatives that if the women spoke publicly about Fleming being male things would go badly for the team members. SJSU representatives stated that any information about Fleming’s sex was Fleming’s information alone and that the women on the team could not share it, that they could not share what they thought about playing with a male, and that they could not speak with others outside the team about any safety or privacy concerns that related to Fleming being male and playing on the SJSU team.
The statements of the SJSU representatives caused Brooke to understand that if she were to protest Fleming’s participation on the SJSU team or to speak publicly about harms from Fleming’s participation on the team that she would be disciplined by SJSU and could be suspended or removed from the team and/or have her athletic scholarship taken away.
The members of the SJSU team were also told that if they did not go along with Fleming’s participation on the team or if they criticized Fleming’s participation in any way that pursuant to NCAA rules and pursuant to SJSU’s own policies any team member making public statements about their concerns regarding Fleming could be removed from the team.
When the 2024 SJSU women’s volleyball team members returned to campus to begin training for the 2024 season, Brooke learned that none of the nine new recruits on the team for the 2024 season had been told that Fleming is male and participating on the women’s team as a result of the NCAA Transgender Eligibility Policies, even though this was now a well-known fact to the athletic department and virtually everyone at SJSU.
Brooke became aware that upon learning that one of their teammates was a trans-identifying male, several of the new recruits became upset, as it was too late for them to transfer, and they felt they had been misled.
During practices immediately before the 2024 season Brooke saw that Fleming was hitting the ball with more force than before and far harder than any woman she had ever played against. Brooke estimates that Fleming’s spikes were traveling upwards of 80 miles per hour which was faster than she had ever seen a woman hit a volleyball. She recalls it was “scary” having balls hit that hard at her and unlike anything she had previously experienced in her volleyball career.
Brooke recognized that Fleming’s spikes significantly increased the risk of her, teammates and opponents being concussed as Fleming hit the ball so hard that if the ball was not blocked at the net by a defender it was difficult for the players to react to Fleming’s spike and to even get their hands up in time to deflect a ball away from their face.
Many of the girls on the team spoke with Brooke about their fears of being hit by balls spiked by Fleming and concerns about potential concussions from being hit by a Fleming spike were regularly discussed among the women on the team. Brooke observed that the girls were doing everything they could to dodge Fleming’s spikes but still could not fully protect themselves.
Throughout the 2024 pre-season and during their regular in-season practices Brooke and her teammates have been afraid of getting concussed from getting hit in the head by a volleyball struck by Fleming. Brooke has herself been hit in the head and about her body by volleyball’s hit by Fleming causing greater bruising, pain, and discomfort than what Brooke has experienced from similar hits by female volleyball players.
As a team captain Brooke personally spoke to her head coach about the risk of injury to team members from Fleming’s hitting. The SJSU coach responded that having played for a Power 5 school Brooke must have played against male practice players and tried to suggest that Fleming’s participation in practices was no different than SJSU using male practice players. Brooke responded to her coach, “You can’t lie to me. At Alabama each of the practice players was warned by the coach that if they hit harder than 70% against the girls they would not ever come back to practice. No college women’s team lets their male practice players hit like Blaire is hitting in our practices.”
Brooke told the SJSU coach that Fleming’s participation in practices, and the fact that the coaches were not asking Fleming to pull back on use of his physical power, was putting everyone on the team at risk of serious injury and she again asked the coach to take steps to protect the women players on the team. However, the SJSU coach brushed Brooke off and would not talk further about it.
Brooke and many of the girls on the SJSU women’s volleyball team agree it is unfair to the teams they are playing that SJSU has a male on their team.
They are also concerned about the risk for injury to the female athletes on teams SJSU faces due to Fleming competing against them. In a recent game against the University of Delaware, which took place in a tournament at the University of Iowa, a SJSU freshman set Fleming for a spike, and Fleming smashed the ball into the face of a woman on the University of Delaware team’s back line, knocking the opposing player to the ground. Several days after the event, the teammate who had set the ball for Fleming came to Brooke in tears due to feelings of guilt that her set to Fleming had led to the Delaware player being hit in the head. The SJSU player wondered aloud whether she had done the right thing to set the ball for Fleming and whether she was responsible for any injury the University of Delaware player suffered.
Due to public attention to Fleming’s transgender status, during the 2024 season SJSU officials have met with all the players on the SJSU women’s volleyball team and again instructed the girls on the SJSU women’s team that they are not to confirm or state to anyone that Fleming is transgender or male, nor are they permitted to criticize Fleming being on the team, or to state their personal feelings or concerns about the matter, including their safety concerns. The SJSU officials said the girls should not worry about any media attention they were getting, because the story “hasn’t hit any media source that matters.”
Conclusion
Female athletes being told to keep their mouth shut as Trans Males secretly continue to take over girls and womens sports. Now that we have heard from the inside the level of harm and danger our girls are being exposed to, it is up to all of us to put a stop to it as soon as possible.
If you would like to join our weekly meetings to put an end to the Trans Takeover of Girls Sports, send me an email to david at Washington Parents Network dot com. We look forward to meeting you!
Regards,
David Spring M. Ed.