In honor of Women’s History Month, at XX-XY Athletics we are celebrating five female athletes who exhibit real courage every day, on and off the playing field.
Rebekah Allick
University of Nebraska, Volleyball
Nebraska volleyball player Rebekah Allick took the team to the NCAA Championship semifinals in 2024, with a record 415 blocks. She joined Nebraska Governor Pillen at the introduction of a bill protecting women's sports and spaces, saying, “Protecting spaces for women and girls, like locker rooms and bathrooms, isn’t just about safety and security – it’s about upholding truth. We were created as either man or woman. The moment we allow basic truths to be distorted or manipulated is the moment we lose our grasp on fundamental reality. Common sense is at stake here.”
@rebekahallick_
Fave Picks:
Jaycee Bassett
Costa Rican National Team, Junior Pan American Champion, and the Junior World Taekwondo Championship Silver Medalist
Bassett, a junior in high school, is a world class Taekowndo athlete. She is a Senior National Team member of Costa Rica, the Junior Pan American Champion and a 2x member of the Junior AAU USA National Team. Bassett won silver in Junior World Championship in Chuncheon, Korea, and is currently ranked second in the world ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympics. If Bassett is forced to compete against a male athlete, she says she will forfeit the match, pressuring her governing body to change its policy.
When asked why this matters to her, Jaycee told us: "If I were to step on the mat and face a boy, I wouldn’t go through with the fight. It would be too dangerous for me and could lead to serious injury, so I would have to forfeit.”
@Jayceetkd1
Ainsley Erzen
University of Arkansas, Soccer and Track
Erzen was told she couldn't be a dual sport athlete. So she did it anyway. Erzen wrote in the Des Moines Register that the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union should protect and preserve female sports and later joined Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds as she signed a law that protected women's sports in the state.
@ainsley_erzen
Fave Picks:
Brooke Slusser
Former Volleyball Team Captain, San Jose State University
The starting setter and co-captain of San Jose State University’s (SJSU) women’s volleyball team is standing up for women’s sports by taking legal action against the NCAA and the Mountain West Conference for Title IX violations after it was revealed that her teammate is a male… a detail hidden by the school for almost two years. Slusser was a pivotal player in calling attention to the secrecy surrounding the decision and was rewarded by her coaches and players conspiring to allow another player to “blast” Slusser in the face. She joined the lawsuit against the Mountain West Conference and has been a powerful, active and thoughtful voice calling attention to the policies and decisions that prioritize the wishes of male athletes over women’s right to fairness, privacy and safety.
Brooke joined seven other players who left SJSU after this last season. In prioritizing her mental health and safety, Brooke is finishing her final semester at home in Texas, far away from the harassment and threats she has to deal with on campus in California.
@brookeslusser04
Walkout song: I feel like a woman - Shania Twain
Sia Liilii
Volleyball Team Captain; University of Nevada, Reno
Without consulting the Nevada, Reno team, the university administration announced the team would play SJSU women’s volleyball team, which included a male athlete, in their women’s volleyball match in October 2024. Liilii and her team spoke up against being forced to play a male trans identified athlete on the SJSU team, whom they recognized had a combination of power, explosiveness, and leaping ability that no other player in the conference had. Overriding their administrators’ admonishments that they need to be “educated,” Liilii and her team stood up to the university and forfeited a match against SJSU. And a crowd of 450 people and Tulsi Gabbard showed up to cheer them on.
@s.yeaah
Fave Picks:
Walkout song: I'm Blessed - Charlie Wilson
Hear their stories:
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We See You NCAA: https://youtu.be/IuvZP4duRuY?si=ji1o9x2kn13lgMay
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Real Girls Rock: https://youtu.be/YWFdHqI34y0?si=_lN9Qtt0r1IIkM95
