Members of a New Hampshire high school girls’ soccer team refused to play against a team whose star player is a biological male, following a similar move by some universities when it comes to teams with trans-identifying athletes.
On Tuesday, at least five of the girls on the Hillsboro-Deering High School Girls Varsity Soccer team skipped their game against Kearsarge Regional High School where the team’s star player is a male named Maelle Jacques, NHJournal reported.
“This isn’t about transgenderism,” Heather Thyng, the mother of a Hillsboro-Deering player who refused to play, told the outlet. “This is about biology for us and the increased physical risk when playing a full contact sport against the opposing sex.”
BREAKING: Members of the Hillsboro-Deering High School Girls Soccer team in New Hampshire refused to play against the Kearsarge team because of their star athlete, Maelle Jacques, who is a male.
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“No one ever got near [Maelle,] so I guess they’ll never be in any danger if there’s enough girls to always have a weak team,” Betsy Harrington, another parent said. “If every game has a few girls refusing to play, we will never know the ability of the Kearsarge team. They have an advantage I hadn’t thought about. It’s that they get to always play a crippled team without all of their players.”
“We believe, my daughter included, that refusing to compete is the best way to push back on this issue, and we are hoping parents will be more willing to put themselves out there knowing they don’t have to be the first or the only family within our community to do so,” Thyng said.
“The coaches reassured me they told the girls there would be no negative repercussions for anyone who refuses to compete,” she added. “They said they understood the increased risk and would be paying attention to the aggressiveness of the game, and if anyone was getting hurt or play was too rough, they were prepared to end the game.”
Jacques is not only dominating in soccer but also in high school track and field, taking away the opportunity for a female to be named the girls’ high jump champion when the biological male won first place at the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 2 state championship in February, the outlet noted.
On Monday, the women’s volleyball team at the University of Wyoming became the third school to refuse to play against San Jose State University because the California school has allowed a trans-identifying male to play on the women’s team, as previously reported.
In a statement posted on X from the Wyoming Cowgirl Volleyball, the team stated, “After a lengthy discussion, the University of Wyoming will not play its scheduled conference match against San José State University in the UniWyo Sports Complex on Saturday, Oct. 5.”
“Per Mountain West Conference policy, the Conference will record the match as a forfeit and a loss for Wyoming,” the statement added. “The Cowgirls will host Fresno State on Thursday, Oct. 3 at 6:30 p.m. in the UniWyo Sports Complex.”
SJSU’s star volleyball player is a trans-identifying male who goes by the name of Blaire Fleming, OutKick’s David Hookstead previously reported.
Related: University Women’s Team Becomes Latest To Refuse To Play Against Trans-Identifying Male