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More than half of the San Jose State University women’s volleyball team is seeking to transfer to other schools after the university’s decision to place a transgender “woman” on the team led to forfeited games and lawsuits.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported Wednesday that seven of the San Jose State players eligible to remain on the team next season have entered the National Collegiate Athletics Association’s (NCAA) transfer portal, indicating their desire to play at other schools. Those players are Nayeli T’ia, Mari Lawton, Ava Martin, Laurel Barsocchini, Kiyana Faupula, Jade Epps, and Teya Nguyen.
Between these transfers and the loss of players who have played the maximum four seasons, only six eligible players remain. The Spartans are spinning this as offering the team a “fresh restart” after what head coach Todd Kress called a “most difficult” season.
Courting Disaster
Of course, the season would not have been difficult had the university, aided and abetted by the NCAA, not installed a six-foot-one-inch female-wannabe named Blaire Fleming on the team — and, what’s worse, kept his true sex a secret from his teammates. When they discovered the truth, they were outraged.
According to Fox News:
In September, co-captain Brooke Slusser joined a lawsuit against the NCAA alleging the program withheld knowledge about Fleming’s birth gender from her and other players on the team. Slusser alleged she was made to share changing and sleeping spaces with Fleming without knowing that Fleming was a biological male.
Slusser, along with several other players in the Mountain West [Conference], filed a separate lawsuit against the conference and San Jose State in November over Fleming’s presence. That lawsuit included testimony from former San Jose State volleyball players Alyssa Sugai and Elle Patterson alleging they were passed over for scholarships in favor of Fleming.
The same players, along with assistant coach Melissa Batie-Smoose, also alleged that Fleming had plotted to spike Slusser in the face during an October game. “Slusser was not spiked in the face in that game,” wrote Fox News, “and an investigation by the Mountain West concluded without finding sufficient evidence of the alleged plot.”
Favorite Son
The Spartans suspended Batie-Smoose in early November after she filed a Title IX complaint alleging that the program had favored Fleming, who got a full scholarship, over the other players.
After the suspension was announced, Slusser told Fox News:
After we found out that she was released, a lot of the team just kind of broke down and was kind of freaking out, and even one of my teammates was like, ‘I don’t feel safe anymore,’ because there’s no one now that we feel like we can go and talk to about our concerns or our actual feelings and can actually speak freely in front of.
Furthermore:
I think anyone can see that’s in my circle and in the gym that [the coaching staff is] not here to support me. They’re here to support Blaire, and they have decided that they will basically do anything to keep supporting Blaire and to not be there for me and my needs. I just have decided you can’t really trust anyone here.
Fleming’s teammates weren’t the only ones upset over his participation. Other schools forfeited matches rather than force their women to face off against Fleming and his blazing spikes. (He led the team in “kills,” spikes that are not returned.) During the regular season, San Jose State won a whopping six games via forfeit. Two of those forfeits were courtesy of Boise State University.
Two Boise State players, along with other Mountain West players, sued to ban Fleming from the conference and the Spartans from the conference tournament. A federal judge and an appeals court both ruled against them.
Boise State then forfeited a semifinal match against San Jose State during the tournament, propelling the Spartans to the championship game, which they lost.
Foresight Saga
According to Yahoo! Sports:
The NCAA allows transgender women’s athletes to compete if they meet the eligibility criteria set by their sport’s individual governing body. For women’s volleyball, that means transgender women’s athletes must submit documentation of their testosterone levels for at least the previous year to prove they do not exceed the “normal female reference range for their age group.”
California, meanwhile, allows athletes to play for the team of the gender with which they identify. Thus, it was not surprising that San Jose State snapped up Fleming for its women’s volleyball team when he entered the transfer portal. It is, however, surprising that the coaching staff did not foresee any negative repercussions of doing so.
Kress told Fox News:
This has been one of the most difficult seasons I’ve ever experienced, and I know this is true as well for many of our players and the staff who have been supporting us all along. Maintaining our focus on the court and ensuring the overall safety and well-being of my players amid the external noise have been my priorities.
Does “ensuring the overall safety and well-being of [his] players” extend to placing them in physical danger from a biological male both on the court and in locker and hotel rooms? Apparently not.
With Fleming ineligible to play anymore (as is Slusser), the controversy is likely to dissipate at San Jose State. But given the NCAA’s ongoing dedication to the trans cult, the transferring players may find themselves in the same situation again next season.
