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2 months ago
18
A volleyball player who can spike a ball at 80mph has an unfair advantage over opponents, a new complaint says, and at least one college has canceled a match against the player's team.
Blaire Fleming, an outside and right-side hitter for San Jose State University (SJSU), is a redshirt junior at the school.
According to her teammate Brooke Slusser, she has confessed that she is a biological male.
Now, Slusser and others are suing the NCAA over Fleming's spot on the team.
Slusser, in her remarks, says Fleming is spiking balls 'faster than she had ever seen a woman hit a volleyball,' Cowboy State Daily reported.
'The girls were doing everything they could to dodge Fleming's spikes but still could not fully protect themselves,' she wrote in the addition, according to the publication, which viewed the lawsuit.
Blaire Fleming (pictured) is spiking balls 'faster than [a teammate] had ever seen a woman hit a volleyball'
Blaire Fleming, an outside and right-side hitter for San Jose State University (SJSU), is a redshirt junior at the school
Riley Gaines has also weighed on, labelling the young player 'male'. Neither Fleming nor the school has commented on the mounting scandal.
Fleming transferred from Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina, where she was playing on the women's team, shortly after the state passed the Save Women's Sports Bill, which would have banned her from playing on female teams.
The player also participated on her high school women's team at John Champe High School in Virginia, according to Reduxx.
Slusser, a transfer from Alabama, said in the proposal that she had no idea that Fleming was 'born biologically male', but noticed that she had 'jumping ability and power that surpassed that of any girl on the team,' according to Outkick.
She started hearing conversations among teammates about the player.
'The girls were doing everything they could to dodge Fleming’s spikes but still could not fully protect themselves,' Slusser (pictured) wrote in the lawsuit
Slusser also claims that Fleming pulled the teammate aside and admitted to being transgender.
Slusser, several other women, and women's sports crusader Riley Gaines are suing the NCAA for allowing Fleming to participate in the Division I sport, Cowboy State Daily reported.
They argue that Fleming poses a risk to biological female athletes, as the 6-foot-1 player hits too hard and has an unfair advantage.
Fleming is currently listed as the second-best player on the team, with 103 kills and scoring 118.5 points this season.
The NCAA already countered an early version of the lawsuit, saying the complainants can't file a sex discrimination suit against the organization as it is a rule-making body and not a state college, Cowboy State Daily reported.
The organization also said the women can't penalize other state organizations for simply following NCAA rules.
Slusser, a transfer from Alabama, said she had no idea that Fleming was reportedly born biologically male, despite noticing that she had 'jumping ability and power that surpassed that of any girl on the team'
Fleming transferred from Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina, where she was playing on the women's team, shortly after the state passed the Save Women's Sports Bill, which would have banned her from playing on women's teams
Fleming's playing for the Coastal Carolina team with the jersey number 11
Southern Utah University canceled its September 14 match against the undefeated team, although it would not confirm it was because of Fleming, according to Cowboy State Daily.
The team told Outkick that it only wanted to compete it in two conference games that weekend.
No other team has canceled a match against San Jose State, the team confirmed to Cowboy State Daily, declining to discuss Fleming's sex.
DailyMail.com reached out to Fleming, Slusser and SJSU Head Coach Todd Kress for comment.
The University of Wyoming - which is scheduled to play against SJSU on October 5 - recently discussed safety issues and concerns with the team and decided to play against the California team.
After months of sharing rooms, Fleming pulled Slusser (pictured) aside and admitted to being transgender, the teammate claims
Slusser joined the lawsuit against NCAA as she feels uncomfortable with Fleming on the team, although she said she doesn't want the athlete to get bullied
'No student-athletes expressed any concern regarding their safety,' a UW spokesperson, Chad Baldwin, told Cowboy State Daily.
However, each team member's and coach's opinions 'regarding fairness vary,' Baldwin said.
Slusser said she doesn't want Fleming to get bullied but worries about safety, according to Outkick.
'One thing that's important in this case is really the physical safety issues in volleyball,' her attorney, Bill Bock, told Outkick.
'And that's what they're facing in practice every day. So it's just a crazy, misguided policy that steals athletic dreams from women and gives them to men, and at the same time, puts women's health and safety in danger.'
Slusser and other team members worried quite frequently that Fleming's power could cause concussion if hit too hard, according to Outkick.
One mother of an opposing player told Reduxx that her daughter has faced more physical injuries and strains than ever before and was constantly icing and rubbing her arms after blocking shots from Fleming during two games.
'[She] was basically unstoppable at times. [She] was jumping so high that I was concerned our blockers could not defend against such a fast-moving hit,' the mother said.
'Coincidentally, those two games, my daughter's stats were not as good as most other games. Her stats were dramatically different because she was trying to compete against a male who my daughter said would stare her down after plays and was extremely arrogant.'
In addition, SJSU teammate alleged that the school told them they were banned from talking about Fleming's biological sex outside the team and that 'things would go badly for the team members' if they did, Outkick said.
Slusser's attorney said the player joined the lawsuit because she doesn't agree with the NCAA's transgender eligibility rules and views it as an impediment to female athletes' achievements.
'The reason for that is that there are just inherent physical differences between men and women. And those physical differences ought to be a cause for celebration, but by allowing men who have greatly increased athletic opportunities and athletic potential, based solely on biology, it prevents women from winning titles, celebrating and being acclaimed for their own unique physical abilities,' the lawyer, Bock, said.
Marshi Smith of the Independent Council on Women's Sports condemned the NCAA for 'defrauding female athletes by withholding information about a teammate or opponent’s true sex,' as Slusser said she was never told during the recruiting process that a transgender athlete was on the team.
'Women are not given the chance to decide whether they want to face heightened safety risks on the court or share women's locker rooms with men,' she told Reduxx.
'The NCAA's reward system encourages deceit, leading to financial and academic advantages for males at the expense of girls and young women in sports. This harmful practice must be stopped immediately.'
Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn called Fleming's participation a 'slap in the face to every single female athlete,' in a post on Facebook.
'Why is the NCAA pretending that it is "fair" for biological men to compete against women?' she wrote.
'Just look at how hard and fast biological male Blaire Fleming from San Jose State hits this ball - unfair AND dangerous.'
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