College volleyball star who took a stand against transgender policies shares story in new documentary
A college volleyball player who refused to compete against a biological male player tells her story in a new documentary, first shared with Fox News Digital.
Sia Liilii, captain of the University of Nevada, Reno women’s volleyball team, drew national headlines in October when she and her teammates refused to play a scheduled game against San Jose State after learning that the alleged biological male player identified as transgender. team.
During the preseason, Liilii said she was “blindsided” after coming across viral clips of San Jose players “hitting balls that were indefensible and frankly a safety concern for a lot of us.”
“Sixteen of the 17 of us had already made up our minds and said, ‘Hey, this is wrong. We’re going to take a stand,'” says Liilii at IW Features’ “Hold the line.”
Sia Liilii tells her story in IW Features’ “Hold the Line.” (IW Features, project of Independent Women)
Weeks before the game, Liilii’s team decided to surrender their game against San Jose State, which was scheduled to take place on October 26th.
However, when the team raised their concerns with the athletic director, Liilii claims their decision was not upheld.
“We’ve been told we’re not educated enough on the subject,” she said. “That we had to rethink our positioning about what we were doing because it was something we couldn’t figure out yet.”
“Our coaches supported us and made it clear that they were behind us in whatever decision we made … but I don’t feel like we were fully supported or supported by a lot of university officials at our school,” she added.
A student leads a group of protesters in Knoxville, Tennessee, to protest the state’s 2022 ban on transgender athletes. ((Saul Young/Knoxville News-Sentinel/USA Today))
The university sent a statement to Fox News Digital denying the players were ever told they were “not sufficiently educated on the subject.”
“The University of Nevada Director of Athletics and Deputy Director met with the Nevada volleyball team and coaching staff on October 7, 2024, where each member of the team present had the opportunity to share their feelings about the situation, ask questions, provide input, and were provided with next steps an opportunity for resources,” the statement said. “The team was not told they were ‘not sufficiently educated on the subject’ during this meeting by the athletic director or deputy director. On October 14 and October 22, 2024, the athletic director spoke to the team for less than five minutes during each occurrences and these gatherings were of an operational nature.”
University administrators said they told the team they could not forfeit the game “for reasons related to gender identity or expression” because that would violate the state constitution.
The day before the game, the school officially announced that they would forfeit the game due to not having enough players willing to compete against San Jose State.
Nevada was the fifth team to forfeit a game against San Jose State, joining Southern Utah, Boise State, Wyoming and Utah State, who all officially surrendered their scheduled games against the California school.
Nevada is the fifth team to lose a game against San Jose State amid the ongoing national controversy surrounding an alleged transgender player on the team. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Liilii, who grew up in Hawaii and earned a Division 1 scholarship to the University of Nevada in 2021, said it was “really hard” for her not to be supported by her university.
“I was very afraid to come forward, but I don’t think I would have done anything differently,” she says in the documentary.
Liilii now joins other female athletes in the fight against these policies as an ambassador for the Independent Women’s Forum advocating for women’s sports.
“Fairness and safety in women’s sports should not be debated, which is why we are proud to present the voices of Sia Lilii, McKenna Dressel and Kinsley Singleton,” Andrea Mew, editor-in-chief for IW Features and producer of the documentary, said in a statement to Fox News Digital. .
Sia Liilii speaks at the Independent Women’s Forum event. (Independent Women’s Forum)
THE CLOCK IS TICKING FOR THE NCAA TO CHANGE ITS TRANSPORTATION POLICY AND PROTECT WOMEN’S SPORTS
“These women won’t settle for less. Leading bodies like The National Collegiate Athletic Association (the “NCAA”) must step up and stop allowing woke politics to erase the accomplishments of these hard-working female athletes and so many others. Women’s sports should be about fair competition, not breaking the rules for the sake of inclusivity. It’s simple — keep women’s sports for women and make changes now. There are no more excuses,” she added.
“Women’s sports belong only to women and men’s sports belong only to men because it gives us the opportunity to be sports champions without the dominance of the other gender,” Liilii said. “No one wants to be in a position to risk their career…If men are allowed to compete against women, women will be wiped out of the sport.”
Liilii’s story comes amid a growing movement of female athletes demanding that the NCAA revise its current policies that allow transgender athletes to compete on women’s teams.
Former collegiate swimmer and Independent Women’s Forum ambassador Riley Gaines spearheaded this movement, submitting lawsuit against the NCAA last March, which claims its policy on trans players violates Title IX protections for female athletes.
Riley Gaines is sworn in during a hearing of the House Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services on Capitol Hill on December 5, 2023 in Washington, DC (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
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Tail. Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., revealed this week that he plans to introduce a joint resolution with Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., that would call on the NCAA to revoke the eligibility of trans athletes who compete as women.
Jackson Thomas of Fox News contributed to this article.
