Transgender water polo player Alicia Paans is a member of the Michigan Wolverines women’s club water team that is set to compete at the 2024 National Collegiate Water Polo Championships after helping lead the team to last year’s championship. And one parent is not happy about it.
The mother of a water polo athlete who participated in the 2023 national championship with Paans said that it was “obvious” that she was a transgender woman, misgendering her as a “man” throughout her interview with Reduxx.
“My husband and I saw him first, standing aside the pool before [University of Michigan’s] first game. We looked at each other in surprise, and immediately knew it was a man,” the parent told Reduxx. “I observed Alicia quite a bit over the tournament, partly out of concern for the women, and also wondering how his teammates acted around him.”
The parent said that players “were almost in shock” that Paans was allowed to compete and expressed “discomfort” about it.
“None of these women were initially aware a man had been allowed to play,” the parent said. “Many of the player’s on my daughter’s team were almost in shock at the situation, and spoke to one another about discomfort with it. But to my knowledge, no one spoke to the organizers of the tournament. They felt that nothing would be done given that it was allowed based on [CWPA] policy.”
The parent was concerned by the fact that her daughter’s team might have to compete against Paans and the Wolverines, but her daughter’s team ultimately did not have to play Michigan.
[Reduxx]
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