Suspended SJSU women’s volleyball coach not staying silent in fight to protect girls’ sports
Suspended San Jose State Spartans women’s volleyball associate head coach Melissa Batie-Smoose says she has no regrets about risking her career to fight the inclusion of biological males into women’s sports.
Batie-Smoose was suspended indefinitely after she filed a Title IX complaint against San Jose State University, alleging that Blaire Fleming, the team’s transgender player, conspired with an opponent to help the team lose a match and injure teammate Brooke Slusser. A dozen women are suing SJSU and the Mountain West Conference over Fleming competing on SJSU’s volleyball team, arguing their Title IX and First Amendment rights are being violated. Five teams in the Mountain West conference so far, including Boise State, Wyoming, Utah State and Nevada, have already canceled their games against SJSU this season.
Smoose told Fox News host Harris Faulkner Friday that she had reached a breaking point.
The SJSU team’s associate head coach Melissa Beatty Smooth spoke to Fox News host Harris Faulkner on Friday.
“I just couldn’t take any more,” she said, recalling how team co-captain Brooke Slusser spoke out about the issue as well. “Speaking out for her rights and that they continued to treat the young women on the team and myself poorly for having our thoughts and opinions, and they were told to us like, we can’t have those.”
Faulkner observed that even with this controversy in the open, those involved are appearing to be extremely careful about following various rules and laws.
“We’re definitely not allowed to speak on that,” Smoose replied. “I’ve continued to be told that, you know, the suspension would go to being fired if I speak out. So [they’re] continuing to hold that silence over myself and the remainder of the women on the team.”
“But you are speaking,” Faulkner observed. “You’re risking everything. So this is important to you.”
“To me, it’s like common sense,” the coach said. “There should not be biological men playing in women’s sports. But we are here right now. And I do think this, you know, is an opportunity for me. It’s nothing that we all sign up for. But I definitely feel so strong that, you know, that moving forward with this and helping this fight and making sure we save women’s sports for the future of young women, my nieces, my grandchildren, is very important.”
Blaire Fleming of the San Jose State Spartans reacts during the second set against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Court at East Gym on October 19, 2024 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. (Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)
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The coach also praised the teams that refused to play against SJSU for including a purportedly biologically male player, arguing they are standing up for women.
“So proud of those young women to stand up for what they believe in when they’re also being silenced by the Mountain West,” Smoose said. “And they’re holding their scholarships and things over their head. I think that is amazing. That’s what we need when everybody does stand up and make sure that this does not continue.”
Smoose claimed that SJSU players do not speak out against transgender athletes because they fear scholarships and other benefits could be taken away.
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“That’s what they’re holding over their heads, and that’s why a lot of the teammates on the San Jose State team is afraid to come forward. They’re afraid to lose their playing time. They’re afraid to lose their scholarship,” the coach replied.
