An athletic director at a high school in Michigan has reportedly made an extraordinary attempt to stop parents of the high school volleyball team protesting against a rival competing with a trans player.
Byron Center meets Ann Arbor Skyline in the girls’ volleyball Michigan Division I quarterfinals on Tuesday night. The Skyline team, according to multiple reports by OutKick, has been competing with a trans-identifying biological male player.
The publication has also claimed that the Michigan High School Athletic Association has claimed it has not granted any waiver for trans athletes to complete since last fall, which deepens the level of controversy.
Now, though, OutKick says that Byron Center’s athletic director, Brady Lake, has written to parents of the competing schoolgirls warning them about being a distraction for the Skyline game.
The letter doesn’t appear to reference the inclusion of a trans player but apparently says: ‘The purpose of this email is to address the media reports surrounding the Ann Arbor Skyline volleyball team. Coach [Missy] Ritz-Johnson, myself, and our administrative team have been monitoring this situation.
‘I have been in direct contact with the MHSAA and other athletic directors involved throughout the season. Please know that we have given this situation much thought well before today.
‘Tuesday night needs to be about crazy bibs, orange beards, pictures on sticks and ‘Bulldog Power’ chants. And of course, the respect and sportsmanship that BC has become known for.
‘Anything other than that will be a huge disservice to our girls, who deserve nothing but the best version of their community behind them.’
Lake, and the Ann Arbor Skyline school, have both been approached for comment by the Daily Mail. The athlete in question has not been named because they are a minor.
Trans athletes in school sports has been a huge issue of controversy in recent years and was a subject that Donald Trump campaigned heavily on last year before returning to the White House for a second term.
Shortly after returning to the Oval Office, Trump signed an executive order titled ‘Keeping Men out of Women’s sports’, and told reporters: ‘With this executive order, the war on women’s sports is over.
‘If you let men take over women’s sports teams or invade your locker rooms, you will be investigated for violations of Title IX and risk your federal funding.’
