Witnesses at a state legislative hearing in Boise, Idaho, recounted Thursday the “horror” some college volleyball players experienced during the 2024 season amid a national controversy involving a trans athlete.
The testimony was taken during a hearing to discuss passage of the Women’s Sports Equity Act, proposed by Idaho State Rep. Barbara Erhardt.
San Jose State University, whose volleyball team included player Blaire Fleiming, and the Mountain West Conference are facing a lawsuit filed by several women’s volleyball players, alleging the school hid the makes Fleming a biological male. The lawsuit also alleged that Fleming was awarded a roster spot and scholarship over players who claimed to have been emotionally and financially affected by the experience.
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Fleming led the Spartans to the Mountain West championship game in the middle of the trial. However, eight of San Jose State’s games were lost by opponents following the controversy, including a conference tournament semifinal game against Boise State.
Boise State has lost three total games to SJSU in 2024 and was praised by Erhardt and other speakers at the hearing for the decision.
One of the parents of a player in the conference reported on the situation Thursday. She also condemned all schools that failed to forfeit SJSU.
“I’m a mom from Idaho who experienced this firsthand with a girl who played in the Mountain West Conference,” said a woman named April Cheney.
“NCAA President Charlie Baker, Mountain West Commissioner Gloria Nevarez, and every Mountain West university president and athletic director who did not boycott, you have failed to protect women’s sports .NCAA and Mountain West Conference, I blame you for the season that lasted a year of eligibility, forced forfeits to record as losses, and a conference championship that was a complete shame!”
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Former NCAA swimmer and prominent conservative influencer Riley Gaines, who regularly organizes with other female athletes affected by trans inclusion and is leading a lawsuit against the NCAA over the issue, revealed her account of this that the players experienced, based on discussions with them.
“They were emotionally blackmailed into believing they were the problem,” Gaines said of the players, adding that Boise State was the only university to provide administrative support to players wishing to forfeit.
“The overwhelming majority of them didn’t want this to happen to them. Nobody asked for this, it’s not a situation they wanted to find themselves in,” Gaines added. “These girls were terrified, they were terrified to stand up, they were terrified to stand up for themselves, they were terrified of the things that might happen if they just said, ‘Men and women are different .'”
Marshi Smith, co-founder of the legal advocacy group Independent Council on Women’s Sports, gave testimony in which she claimed that female athletes who joined the lawsuit felt threatened with retaliation by their university if they spoke out against the inclusion of trans people.
“What will they do to us if we speak out?” players often asked, according to Smith.
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Smith expanded on these players’ questions in a follow-up statement to PK Press Club Digital.
“They are often terrified of losing their scholarships or being kicked off their team. At San Jose State, administrators exploited these fears by telling them to stay quiet because it’s history Blaire Fleming’s story to tell, not theirs,” Smith said.
San Jose State provided a statement to PK Press Club Digital in response to statements made during Thursday’s hearing.
“All San Jose State University student-athletes are eligible to compete in their sports under NCAA and Mountain West Conference rules,” the release said.
Smith also alleges that University of Nevada, Reno volleyball players were threatened with legal action if they refused to compete against San Jose State in a match scheduled for October, but which did not has never been played.
“At UNR, school administrators warned athletes that they could face legal action if they refused to compete against SJSU’s team, which included a male starter,” Smith said.
Nevada did not respond to Smith’s allegations following a request for comment. The university previously released a statement saying athletes were free not to play the game without discipline and that it was continuing the game to comply with state law aimed at preventing discrimination against transgender people.
After players begged their university to forfeit in favor of SJSU a few weeks before the game, the university declined the request and issued a statement insisting it would play the game. But by then, players went public with their grievances about the situation, sparking weeks of controversy. Ultimately, Nevada had to cancel the game on October 25, just a day before the game was scheduled, because it did not have enough players ready to play.
However, even with Nevada, Boise State, Utah State, Southern Utah and Wyoming withdrawing this season, dozens of other players were still forced to play Fleming, some without even know the nature of the player’s birth sex.
Their first opponent of the season, Louisiana Tech, took the field against Fleming without knowing the player’s biological sex.
Louisiana Tech head volleyball coach Amber McCray confirmed to PK Press Club Digital that her team was unaware of the situation regarding Fleming’s natural gender, and she didn’t find out until the day after the match via parental rumors.
LA Tech athletic director Ryan Ivey suggested that if they had known Fleming’s natural gender, the team “would have looked for ‘a different outcome,'” in emails obtained by PK Press Club Digital.
Then there are Fleming’s own teammates, including former SJSU co-captain Brooke Slusser, who is leading the lawsuit against Mountain West, and also signed on to Gaines’ lawsuit against the NCAA, citing her experience with Fleming .
Slusser told PK Press Club Digital the experience was “traumatic.”
“This season has been so traumatic that I don’t even have a proud moment,” Slusser said.
In Slusser’s ongoing lawsuit against SJSU and Mountain West, his list of plaintiffs also includes players Alyssa Sugai, Elle Patterson, Sia Liilii, Nicanora Clarke, Kaylie Ray, Macey Boggs, Sierra Grizzle, Jordan Sandy, Katelyn Van Kirk, Kiersten Van Kirk and former SJSU volleyball assistant coach Melissa Batie-Smoose.
SJSU also recently acknowledged a mass exodus of volleyball players who have entered the transfer portal, as nearly all remaining players still eligible are now looking to leave the program.
“Student-athletes have the ability to make decisions regarding their college athletic careers, and we have the utmost respect for that,” a statement read.
