One of the very early lessons I remember from the Old Man involved cheating. "If a man will cheat," I remember him telling me, "...then he will lie, and he will steal." As usual, he was right. Honesty is a binary; one either is or isn't, and that encompasses all three of the items noted here.
But somehow it's worse when a person, tasked with educating young minds, set in a position that places them not only in a position of authority over young people, but in a position to be an example for those young people, does all three: Lying, cheating, and stealing. And yet, that's what has happened at San Jose State University in California, where a young man was allowed to play on the women's volleyball team. Now, thanks to a federal Title IX investigation, we learn that he was not only allowed to play, he was also recruited by the coaches to play, with the coaches knowing he would give their team an unfair advantage.
Fox News Digital questioned San Jose State Athletic Director Jeff Konya on the controversial 2024 volleyball season that included a lawsuit over a trans athlete, but ended the interview after about just five minutes and walked away.
"In April 2022, [former San Jose State University] women's indoor volleyball head coach [Trent Kersten] began actively recruiting a male volleyball athlete from another university to join the SJSU women's indoor volleyball team," alleges official U.S. Department of Education (ED) findings.
"Most, if not all," the female SJSU players shared intimate spaces with the trans athlete without knowing the athlete's birth sex, per the findings.
"The evidence is that at various times, most, if not all, of the women on the team at the time of sharing a dorm room, hotel room, and/or locker room with Student 1 were unaware that Student 1 was a male."
So, let's go through this and look at the lying, cheating, and stealing.
Read More: Biology, Qualia, and Reality: Why 'Trans Women' Aren't Women
Look at Her: The Devastating Unfairness of Men in Women's Sports
First, the lying: The player recruited, believed by Fox News to be a former SJSU player, Blaire Fleming, was not a young woman, as one would expect for someone being recruited to play on a women's volleyball team. This was a young man. That was the first lie. Second, the women on the team were not made immediately aware of this player's sex, and were left instead to imply they would be joined by a new player who was female, not male. Finally, the women players were expected to lie themselves, in effect, to accept a man in their locker rooms, in their dorm rooms, in their showers, in their hotel rooms, without pointing out the obvious: That this was a man.
Second, the cheating. The coaches knew they were recruiting a man. They knew that having a man on the team would give them an unfair advantage. They did so anyway.
"Additional communications indicate Coach 1 stated that Student 1 texted him wanting to commit to transferring to San José State University. Coach 1 stated his belief that Student 1 'is good enough to make us better,'" the findings state.
"Internal email communications provided by the University indicate the head women’s volleyball coach contacted the Director of the San José State University PRIDE Center & Gender Equity Center to discuss recruiting a male volleyball player (Student 1) for the San José State University women’s indoor volleyball team. Additional communications indicate Coach 1 stated that Student 1 texted him wanting to commit...
"...the University knew Student 1 is male."
This wasn't just a case of a student-athlete taking advantage of a social contagion for personal gain, although that did happen. If this is true, then these coaches, unforgivably, sought to take advantage of a social contagion to improve their team's performance, which would be career-enhancing for the coaches.
Third and finally, the stealing. Putting a young man on a woman's volleyball team is stealing. It is stealing possible rewards, recognition, trophies, and possibly even scholarships from actual young woman who have worked much of their lives to improve their skills. It's stealing career progress from coaches leading teams that eschew cheating and lying, that lead teams of all young women.
This kind of thing is precisely why the Trump administration's crackdown on Title IX violations must continue. If anything, the pace should be picked up. This, this cynical taking advantage of a social contagion by coaches, is, if anything, worse than the individual male athletes doing so. These coaches are expected to set an example. They are expected to instill sportsmanship, fair play, and honesty in the athletes; the coaches are expected to set the example. These coaches, if we are to believe these reports, have done just the opposite: They have taught their charges that it's acceptable to lie, cheat, and steal.
And if a man will lie, cheat, and steal, what else will he do?
This practice is, slowly but (we hope) finally drawing to an end. But jurisdictions like California will fight to the bitter end, to keep allowing this lying, cheating, and stealing. That's why the ultimate solution is and always will be this: The actual girls and women being lied to, cheated, and stolen from will have to engage one of the most powerful phrases in the English language: "I will not comply." Whenever a male is on the field or on the court, walk away. Walk away and leave that boy or man with no one to compete against. Do not enable the fraud. Then, and only then, will this whole thing be over.
