The San Jose State women’s volleyball program has been engulfed in controversy for having a transgender athlete on its roster this season.
A federal judge in Colorado ruled Monday that Blaire Fleming will be allowed to play for the Spartans in the Mountain West Conference tournament, putting to rest – at least for now – one of the major controversies that have been the talking point of the season.
Fleming led the team in kills during the regular season with 297 and has a team-leading 3.86 kills per set. As San Jose State came under fire for having Fleming on the team, the volleyball star’s play came under scrutiny.
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Fleming raised eyebrows at points during the season with some vicious spikes that ricocheted off opponents. It has led to criticism of how much power Fleming is putting into the kills and whether the player has more strength as a transgender athlete.
However, current and former women’s volleyball figures downplayed the criticism surrounding Fleming’s abilities.
“A lot of players that I talk to have been like, ‘Have you been in the Nebraska gym? Have you been in the Texas gym?’ These biological women are hitting the ball just as hard or maybe, probably, harder and jumping even higher and all these things,” Logan Eggleston, a former Texas Longhorns star and AVCA National Player of the Year, told ESPN.
“That’s kind of the conversation I’ve been hearing, is, ‘Yeah, this woman at San Jose State, yes, she might be transgender, but that doesn’t make her this superhuman athlete that’s crushing other people.'”
Michigan State’s Aksha Anderson defended Fleming.
“I think it was ridiculous how people kept saying, ‘Oh, this is why it’s dangerous,'” Anderson said. “At the end of the day, all these top-25, top-50 big-time programs have male practice players, male coaches constantly playing. If we’re talking about danger, I feel like that’s not a fair argument to make in this situation.”
Penn State’s Serena Gay said she gets hit in the face at practice “everyday” and that the type of spikes Fleming has delivered is “normal.”
Fleming’s play has been deemed unsafe, and it was one of the points in the lawsuit filed against the Mountain West Conference.
Brooke Slusser, Fleming’s teammate who was one of the plaintiffs involved in the suit, told KTVU-TV in San Francisco before Monday’s ruling she was leaving practices with bruises from getting hit and has needed to dodge balls coming after her.
“I think the biggest issue is it’s not safe,” Slusser said. “No woman will ever have the strength that they have, and two, they’re taking opportunities and scholarships and medals from women that have worked their whole lives for it.”
Regardless, the judge ruled in favor of Fleming and San Jose State.
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