I’m a mother of daughters (and sons). It’s heartbreaking to think of my daughters practicing hard in a sport only to lose to a team with a transgender person playing on the opposing girls' team, bolstered by that athlete’s inherent physiological advantages.

Women at the collegiate level are standing up for fair play, but they’re still facing an uphill climb.

Over this past weekend, players on the University of Nevada, Reno women’s volleyball team were standing up for their right to safety and fair play on the volleyball court. On Saturday, several members of the team participated in a “Women Sports are for Women Only.”

“It was important not only for the girls now who are playing against a biological male, but for the future of women's sports,” team captain Sia LiiLii said during the event. “I mean, this person is taking an opportunity from a female who just like me worked her whole life to get to the dream of being a collegiate D-1 athlete. Me and my teammates all decided that this is something that we wouldn't stand for and something that we need to speak out about.”

After the teammates announced that they were going to forfeit the Oct. 26 match against San Jose State University, a team with a transgender player, school administrators clarified the team’s decision with their own statement.

“The players’ decision and statement were made independently, and without consultation with the University or the athletic department. The players’ decision also does not represent the position of the University,” the University of Nevada, Reno’s statement reads.

The University of Nevada, Reno administrators also cited NCAA rules about equality and said that although the match would continue, athletes could choose not to participate and the school would not discipline them for missing it.

The University of Nevada, Reno is now one of several teams that have forfeited matches against San Jose State University. Boise State, Wyoming State and Utah State --- all a part of the Mountain West Conference --- have done so.

The women on these volleyball teams are taking a controversial matter into their own hands and at the risk of their own athletic careers as Division 1 athletes. Their actions are likely a response to the lack of a stand made by the governing bodies of organizations like the NCAA.

At least 24 states have instituted laws that protect women’s sports, ensuring that women can play only against other biological women, but this is often at a high school level. In April, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics announced a policy that banned transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports.

While it may be complex to figure out how to treat gender dysphoria in minors, or even exactly what legislative policies protect all people regarding this issue equally, the issue of transgender athletes in sports seems clear.

Collegiate transgender athletes possess obvious physiological advantages to women. This is most obvious in the case of University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas. Thomas was the first transgender swimmer to win an NCAA swimming championship in 2022. Thomas was a mediocre swimmer on the men’s team, ranking 65th in the 500-yard freestyle. But when Thomas moved to the women’s team as a transgender athlete, the same swimmer ranked 1st in that race. 

The swimming world has dealt with this issue differently --- and much more fairly --- than the volleyball world.

In 2022, World Aquatics, the international governing body for swimming, banned transgender athletes who have been through male puberty from competing in and against women. The organization also created an “open” category just for transgender athletes.

During the 2023 Swimming World Cup in Berlin, World Aquatics canceled their “open” category because no athletes applied to swim in those races. Either transgender swimmer athletes are rare, or do not want to swim in a category unto themselves.

Solo categories for transgender athletes in individual sports like swimming or track make sense, but this is nearly impossible for team sports like volleyball.
By the looks of it, these college athletes like the women on the volleyball team at the University of Nevada, Reno have decided the best way to ensure fairness is to bow out. This is costly but brave and it gives hope to younger athletes.

Perhaps these efforts will help secure fair play for my own daughters so that if they ever reach the rank of competitive college athlete, they can rest assured they are playing sports in the fairest way possible.