Air Force Academy • Woke Agenda

USAFA Stops ’02 Grad From Wearing ‘Keep Women’s Sports Female’ Shirt During Match Against SJSU

22 October 2024

Background: Five schools in the Mountain West Conference refused to play against San Jose State University women’s volleyball team due to male player on the team who identifies as a female.

According to Patriot Post, “Blaire (Brayden) Fleming is a superstar player for SJSU who hits harder and jumps higher than his teammates. He has the second-most total kills (spikes that aren’t returned) on the team. His ability to deliver such hard spikes is actually dangerous to women.”

The women on these other five teams were standing for safety and fairness and against biological males competing in female sports.  So the schools one-by-one boycotted playing against San Jose except for . . . . the Air Force Academy.

Instead of siding with women and protecting them, the Air Force Academy’s had their women’s volleyball play the game (they ended up losing–in more ways than one).

At this specific game, USAFA would not allow any signs to be brought in, had a big board with rules of fan conduct and even told a 2002 USAFA grad at the game to unzip his Air Force Academy branded sweatshirt to see what shirt he was wearing.

When they saw that his shirt said, “Keep Women’s Sports Female”, they wouldn’t let him in unless he kept his sweatshirt zipped up. FIRST AMENDMENT ANYONE? Isn’t that what cadets are fighting for–to protect the US Constitution and its rights?

The grad said people were then keeping an eye on him and he saw security pointing him out to the USAFA Superintendent and Commandant who were at this game.

When did USAFA become so tyrannical, against free speech and not protecting women? 

More from Outkick:

By Dan Zaksheske | Outkick

OutKick obtained exclusive video footage that showed security officials at the Air Force Academy preventing a fan from wearing a shirt that said, “Keep Women’s Sports Female” during a match against San Jose State and transgender player Blaire Fleming.

The fan, John Kopecky, USAFA ’02, captured the moment when officials at Air Force told him to unzip his sweatshirt to reveal what he was wearing underneath.

When they saw the shirt, they told him that he couldn’t display it during the match. He was told the message was “political” and not allowed.

“They’ve never made me unzip a hoody to get in before, so that was unusual,” Kopecky told OutKick.

Kopecky said that they allowed him into the game, but told him if he tried to take off his sweatshirt, they would ask him to leave. He added that several people watched him throughout the game to make sure he complied.

“I saw security pointing me out to the Superintendent [and] the Commandant,” he said. “I could kind of see out of the corner of my eye, they were pointing at where I was sitting.”

Kopecky noted a few other changes to the usual process at Air Force home volleyball games. He said they had a banner letting fans know that they would not allow signs into the game, at all.

This is different from the usual policy, which states that the Academy does not allow “unapproved banners/signs (no signs larger than 18″ x 24″).”

In this instance, though, signs were prohibited entirely. Kopecky also noted that they had a large board with a fan code of conduct. While he noted that this might have been up in the past, it was more visible than he could ever remember.

“They brought out a big board with all these rules about fan conduct that may have been there in the past, but I’ve never seen it [displayed] right at the door,” he said.

His takeaway was that the Air Force Academy clearly put special measures into place for this game.

OutKick reached out to Air Force to ask about Kopecky’s claims.

“Air Force Athletics takes necessary measures to provide a safe environment at all home athletic events for players, coaches, staff and fans,” the school said in a statement.

However, the school declined to answer several specific questions about the procedures for the San Jose State match.

Here are the questions OutKick asked:

  • “Did security require that fans unzip their sweatshirts and take off jackets to reveal if they had anything underneath? If so, what, exactly, constituted a shirt that would not be allowed during this match?”
  • “Were signs banned from this match? Is that different from the usual policy for home games?”
  • “Was a fan prevented from displaying a shirt that read “Keep Women’s Sports Female”? If so, why was that shirt not allowed? Could the fan wear that shirt to the team’s next home game this week?”

What’s interesting about this situation, specifically, is that all of this occurred on the Air Force military base, which is, of course, property of the United States government. 

It seems odd that a government institution would restrict a person’s right to wear a shirt with a “political message,” given that one would assume free speech would be commonplace at this particular institution. 

In this case, though, it appears that the Air Force Academy felt that protecting the feelings of transgender San Jose State player Blaire Fleming superseded the fans’ right to free speech.

San Jose State defeated Air Force, 3-1, and Blaire Fleming led the Spartans with 10 kills in the match.

Ultimately, San Jose State beat Air Force to move to 11-3 on the season.

Kopecky pointed out that Fleming’s athleticism looked quite a bit different from what he was used to seeing in women’s volleyball.

“Watching Blair Fleming play… the jumping ability was just drastically different,” he said. “It was just like, ‘wow, there’s something you don’t see every day at a women’s volleyball match.’ … [Fleming was] strikingly more athletic than normal.”

One interesting note that Kopecky made was how much leadership Brooke Slussler displayed on the floor.

Slusser has spoken out against having biological males in women’s sports, but that hasn’t stopped her from continuing to compete and lead her team.

“Her leadership on the court [was] very impressive,” he said. “She was very sharp…[communicating] with everybody, an impressive young lady.”

However, it’s hard to hide the obvious awkwardness between Slusser and Fleming given Slusser’s stance on transgender athletes in women’s sports.

“[There was] minimal communication between the two of them,” Kopecky observed. “They’re right next to each other a lot of the time but even in the huddles there were no extra high-fives.

“You could tell there was some type of distance there.”

Brooke Slussler, Blaire Fleming and the San Jose State Spartans women’s volleyball team continue to dominate on the court, sitting in third place in the Mountain West Conference.

The conference tournament takes place in Las Vegas at the end of November. If the Spartans win that tournament, they would be granted an automatic bid to the NCAA Division-I Women’s Volleyball Championship Tournament.

If they don’t win the conference tournament, however, it would be up to the committee to determine if they did enough to earn an at-large bid, similar to how teams are selected for the NCAA March Madness Tournament.

In that case, it would be very interesting to see how the NCAA decides to handle this situation.

Watch video: Air Force Graduate John Kopecky (’02) Speaks With OutKick About San Jose State Volleyball, Blaire Fleming

First published on Outkick

Follow-on story:

Air Force Allowed ‘Pride’ Shirt During SJSU Match But Not A ‘Keep Women’s Sports Female’ Shirt (Outkick)

. . . Air Force declined to answer several direct questions about why that shirt was disallowed, or what made the school declare that the shirt was considered “political messaging.”

But at least one fan in the crowd proudly donned an Air Force shirt emblazoned with the “Rainbow/Pride” colors in what could easily be perceived as a show of support for Fleming.

Now, if a shirt that says “Keep Women’s Sports Female” is a “political message,” particularly during a match against a transgender opponent, how is a “pride” shirt not an equally political message?

Clearly, there are people on both sides of this issue and it creates intense debate. So, why is one side allowed to express its opinion openly and the other is not?

OutKick asked Air Force why it allowed the “pride” shirt and not the “Keep Women’s Sports Female” but the school declined to provide an answer, telling us that it didn’t “have anything further” from its previous statement. . . . .

Women’s college volleyball is beginning to take a stand for fairness and safety in female sports (Patriot Post, 7 Oct 2024)

By Emmy Griffin

What do Utah State, Boise State, the University of Wyoming, and Southern Utah University have in common? Their women’s volleyball teams are taking a firm stand for women’s rights by boycotting playing against San Jose State University (SJSU) because the latter has permitted a biological male to be a part of its women’s team.

Blaire (Brayden) Fleming is a superstar player for SJSU who hits harder and jumps higher than his teammates. He has the second-most total kills (spikes that aren’t returned) on the team. And up until this past weekend, his team was undefeated. His ability to deliver such hard spikes is actually dangerous to women.

To make matters worse, SJSU actively hid the fact that it has a male playing on the female team. Brand-new recruits and transfers had no idea what they were signing onto until it was too late. This was the case for senior Brooke Slusser, co-captain and teammate to Fleming.

According to OutKick, “Upon transferring to SJSU from Alabama in the Fall of 2023, Slusser began sharing a residence with four of her teammates, including Fleming. She was also assigned to room with Fleming, who specifically requested her, on team road trips. At no point during her recruitment, nor during the 2023 season, was Slusser informed that a male athlete was on the team.”

Women are often criticized for not taking a stand for their own rights. More definitely need to, but these women also face social stigmas, possibly losing their place on the team, and battles against their athletic departments and coaches should they dare to object.

What these four schools are doing is huge. They are providing cover for other young women to stand up and signaling that their rights are going to be protected at their school. It truly is amazing, and more teams should follow suit.

Former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines has firsthand experience with the unfairness of allowing males to compete in female sports. “A movement is in motion,” she posted on X. “It’s becoming increasingly clear that the NCAA has a decision to make. So far, the NCAA has prioritized inclusion over safety & fairness. Will the @NCAA keep letting girls take matters into their own hands or will they step up & protect their athletes?”

It really is no small thing to stand up to the transgender infringement on women’s sports. For example, this past spring, five girls on a West Virginia middle school track and field team who decided to object were banned from competing.

Though these four colleges have some strength in numbers, Brooke Slusser is in the line of fire. She has joined 12 other female athletes in a class-action lawsuit against the NCAA. The suit correctly asserts that the NCAA has violated Title IX by refusing to protect women’s sports and allowing males to compete. Talk about courage on Slusser’s part.

That courage was tested this past weekend when she received death threats from the “tolerant” Left and had to spend her pregame against Colorado State under police protection. Meanwhile, Colorado State won all three matches of the game. Well done!

However, what’s repulsive is the way that even Fox News is choosing to frame all of this. The legacy media is making it sound like the other teams forfeited out of fear. In truth, they forfeited out of a just yearning for fairness in women’s sports while also taking into consideration the safety of their female athletes.

When toxic empathy and affirming a gender-confused person’s delusions trump the rights and safety of women, that’s wrong.

Good on Utah State, Boise State, the University of Wyoming, and Southern Utah University for standing up for what’s right.

Nevada women’s volleyball team to boycott match over San Jose State’s transgender player (Washington Times)

. . . “We, the University of Nevada Reno women’s volleyball team, forfeit against San Jose State University and stand united in solidarity with the volleyball teams of Southern Utah University, Boise State University, the University of Wyoming and Utah State University,” the team members said in a separate statement Monday to Outkick.

“We demand that our right to safety and fair competition on the court be upheld. We refuse to participate in any match that advances injustice against female athletes,” the players said. . .

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1 Comment

  • I have a friend in the volleyball world of coaching who found out that Governor Polis informed the CSU coach that refusal to play SJSU would result in her firing. My friend said the CSU coach likely would have played them anyways since she is politically left and allows her players, 3 of them, to kneel during the national anthem.

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