Smoke has been building over the San Jose women’s volleyball team significantly. While they recently ended their season, controversies outside the court have plagued the team. As per several allegations, the team had been allowing a trans athlete to participate in the women’s category. What’s even more surprising is that despite the constant complaints, the authorities allegedly did not make any efforts to change the situation. 

Former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines initially addressed the discrepancy. Soon, things started to flare up as SJSU co-captain Brooke Slusser, too, joined in the protest. Apart from supporting a lawsuit against the NCAA, Slusser also accused the organization of some serious let-offs. She stated that the NCAA did not inform the San Jose women athletes about the true identity of the trans athlete. And things did not stop there. The 21-year-old further lashed out about the entire incident while appearing in an exclusive interview with FOX. 

Venting out her frustration, Slusser stated, “Yeah, I think just at the end of the day, it’s to protect the future of women’s sports. If things can keep going the way they are and allowing trans and men in women’s sports, there won’t be women’s sports any longer. I mean, if you want to be successful in any college sport, if you want to have men on women’s teams, what’s going to stop coaches from just having a whole team of them?” Slusser also stated that the main focus of the protest was to allow young female athletes to pursue their dreams without any fuss. 

The SJSU co-captain also mentioned how Title IX was initially designed to protect the rights of female athletes in collegiate sports. Earlier in the same interview, she also reflected on what exactly went through the SJSU female volleyball athletes. 

She pointed out that the females were advised to use an alternative locker room if they had a problem. They were also told to be understanding enough not to hurt the feelings and sentiments of the trans athlete. All these instances allegedly made the women utterly uncomfortable and terrified. The extent of the issue is so much worse that the assistant coach of SJSU was suspended for protesting. 

SJSU Volleyball team assistant coach receives the stick after active protest

SJSU Assistant Coach Melissa-Batie-Smoose filed a Title IX complaint back in November. Siding with Slusser, Smoose agreed to the team management’s favoritism tactics. Unfortunately, things soon took a grim turn after Smoose’s involvement in these matters. Days after the incident, the SJSU assistant coach was suspended by authorities. Taking a neutral approach, the SJSU management issued an official statement, stating, “We will not provide further information on this matter.”

However, Batie-Smoose was not the one to let things go off easily. Speaking to FOX, the former SJSU assistant volleyball coach stated, “Safety is being taken away from women… Fair play is taken away from women. We need more and more people to do this and fight this fight because women’s sports, as we know it right now, will be forever changed.” To make things worse, there are reports about 7 women athletes getting into the transfer portal for a potential switch. While it is not confirmed whether the decision to transfer was due to the controversy, the leaving of so many players at once has the potential to weaken the team significantly.