This weekend, the Michigan Wolverines women’s club water polo team will compete in the 2024 National Collegiate Club Water Polo Championships at Texas A&M University. And as the team goes for its second consecutive championship at the event, they’ll once again be joined by transgender athlete Alicia Paans.
31-year-old Alicia Paans competed in the championship last year as she helped lead the Wolverines to the championship in the event, and according to a report from Reduxx, she will be back again this year as Michigan is one of 16 teams at the event vying for the championship.
“Paans is expected to compete on the University of Michigan’s Women’s Club Water Polo team. The club’s official Instagram account recently named Paans as “player of the week,” boasting that he is also a state chess champion in the women’s category, having won second place at the Michigan Chess Association women’s open in 2022,” Reduxx reported this week.
The Collegiate Water Polo Association released a policy on transgender athletes back in January that explicitly allows transgender women to compete in women’s competitions.
“Transgender athletes who identify as female are eligible to compete in both the Co-ed League and the Women’s League,” the policy reads.
It’s worth noting that Paans is competing for the Michigan club team, not a varsity team, and she is not on scholarship through the sport.
[Reduxx]
