My daughter, who happens to be transgender, started enjoying sports when she was in middle school, but never even tried to play on a school team until she was a senior in high school. The reason she wanted to play, in her words, was to increase her friend group. She wanted to try something new, make friends, and also move her body. She was able to join the volleyball team, because they didn't make any cuts, everyone got to be on the team. 

She went to every practice and worked hard to earn some playing time. She learned about commitment, how to show up for others, how to support the teammates, and how to lose gracefully. It wasn't about the competition because they lost every game, except one. She liked learning from the coaches and players that were much better than her. She liked cheering her team from the sidelines. She liked going to other schools to meet and play other teams. 

It's pretty incredible when I reflect on how courageous she was to try something new like this as a senior in high school. She was one of the kids deeply impacted by Covid shutting down at the end of 9th grade, online "school" for sophomore, masks for junior year, and finally feeling free as a senior. She was pretty new to the sport as she only played one recreational season in middle school. She had never played on a school team before. 

My daughter used the bathrooms and locker rooms alongside her peers and there were ZERO issues. She belonged on the team, was loved by her teammates, she was one of the most improved players, and got the biggest applause on Senior night. 

She accomplished her goals of building a larger friend group. She is still friends with many of the girls years later. The other thing that happened is her overall health and wellbeing improved. She began to love the workouts, even though they were hard. She now has the skills and confidence to play in adult leagues and would like to play for club teams in college. She deserves the right to play, stay fit and healthy, and have sports as an option to achieve social and physical goals.

Trans girls are girls! Trans women are women! And they should be able to play on teams with their female peers! It's a non issue!