Inside California trans volleyball player saga now being probed by Trump admin

After the historic Jan. 13 Supreme Court hearing on trans athletes in women’s sports, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced 19 new investigations into educational entities suspected of violating Title IX.

Jurupa Unified School District (JUSD) in Riverside, California was at the very top of investigations that ED announced on Jan. 14. The second entity on the list was the neighboring district, the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District (PYLUSD). Their fates were intertwined amid a national controversy involving a trans athlete in 2025. 

Fox News Digital has obtained exclusive details related to the incidents being probed, via a public records request, and testimony from the young women who were impacted. Fox News Digital is not disclosing the name of the trans athlete in this specific story at the request of the athlete’s mother when we reached out for comment. However, previously the mother and athlete have spoken out publicly and the athlete’s name is widely reported and known.

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A young life forever changed

Former Jurupa Valley High School girls’ volleyball player Hadeel Hazameh spoke up in the fall about playing with a transgender teammate for the last three years, joining a lawsuit against her school district over it. 

The experience has been so traumatizing and difficult to navigate. Hazameh sped up her academics to graduate early so she wouldn’t have to share the same hallways as her antagonists. Her last day of school was Dec. 19. She will no longer be competing in track and field this spring. 

« I was looking very forward to track… I really miss volleyball, » Hazameh told Fox News Digital. 

Hazameh stepped away from her volleyball team in protest in early September, about a week before officially filing a lawsuit. Hazameh said she always believed males shouldn’t compete in women’s sports, but she also cited her religious beliefs, as a practicing Muslim. She could not be in the same changing spaces as a biological male.

Then came the backlash. Hazameh said her volleyball teammates, except the co-plaintiff in the lawsuit, Alyssa McPherson, turned on her. 

« After I went public with not supporting biological men in women’s sports, of course, everyone doesn’t like me anymore. The only friend I have is Alyssa. And it’s okay, honestly. I don’t need a lot of friends, I just need the ones that are there for me to support me, » Hazameh said.

The treatment from peers even resulted in an alleged death threat from a classmate, who Hazameh alleges was reported to the school with no response.

« People are very disrespectful. I’ve been getting very disrespectful comments, I’ll be walking to class and someone will cuss at me, or I’m pretty sure someone almost told me to die. And I reported it to the school and they didn’t do anything about it, » she added. 

« ‘They were like ‘what do you want me to do for you in this situation?’ And I’m like, ‘someone just told me to die. Are you serious right now?’ »

Hazameh added, « I was like this is a repeating cycle with this same girl and I’ve seen no consequences. And yes, it was reported formally. I turned in the yellow slip, and it was sent to one of the receptionists, » and that she eventually submitted a second slip alleging the issues. 

Jurupa Valley High School was unwillingly thrust into a national spotlight last May when President Donald Trump called out a situation involving a trans athlete at the school who competed for the girls’ track and field team. The trans athlete advanced to the state final, prompting Trump to send a Truth Social post warning state officials to not let the athlete compete in the event.

On the last day of May, Jurupa’s trans athlete went on to win state gold in the high jump and triple jump, and finished second in the long jump. 

Trump’s Department of Justice then filed a Title IX lawsuit against the state in July for refusing to keep biological males out of girls’ sports. 

When the fall sports season started back up, Jurupa’s trans athlete returned for a fourth and final year of girls’ volleyball.

But the 2025 season wouldn’t go as smoothly. In addition to Hazameh and McPherson’s protest and lawsuit, opposing teams began to forfeit, presumably in response to the sudden national awareness around the trans athlete. By the end of the regular season, at least 10 games on the schedule were forfeited.

Jurupa Valley High School and other schools that oversaw the forfeiting teams began to confirm publicly the games would not be played. 

A national media firestorm had arrived for the high school of 1,638 students. 

Newsom’s office stepped in

In early September, a representative from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office reached out to JUSD administrators, referencing California’s ongoing legal battle against Trump over the issue of trans athletes in girls’ sports, as seen in public records obtained by Fox News Digital. 

Newsom’s Legal Affairs Secretary David Sapp sent an email to district administrators on Sept. 8 that appeared to include a copy of the state’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit, filed by Trump’s DOJ in July, over the CIF’s continued policies that allow males in girls’ sports. 

« As discussed, please see attached for a copy of the motion to dismiss that we filed on Friday in USDOJ’s lawsuit around Title IX, » Sapp’s email wrote. 

The email was forwarded by one district administrator to others, to be discussed at a meeting on Sept. 12. The exchange also appeared to indicate school administrators recently discussed the issue with Sapp himself.

« You can let the team know that [JUSD administrator] & I received this from David Sapp with the Governor’s office on Monday when discussing the issue with them and we’re passing it along in case it is helpful for our discussion today, » the email wrote. 

Fox News Digital requested minutes and transcripts from the Sept. 12 meeting that the administrator’s email referenced from JUSD. The school district responded claiming it had no records it could share from the meeting. 

« The September 12 meeting attended by [JUSD administrator] was an informal teleconference, which included, among other attendees, the District’s legal counsel. There were no minutes from the teleconference, and [JUSD administrator] did not take notes or create any documents, » a JUSD administrator told Fox News Digital.

« Any notes or documents prepared by district legal counsel have not been shared with any other party and, as such, are covered by the attorney-client work privilege and attorney work-product doctrine. »

JUSD and Newsom’s office have declined to provide any further clarity on the interactions between Sapp and the school district. 

INSIDE THE SCOTUS HEARING BOUND TO BE A TURNING POINT IN THE CULTURE WAR OVER TRANS ATHLETES IN WOMEN’S SPORTS

A source within Newsom’s office provided a statement, on background, to Fox News Digital in response to an inquiry for clarification on Sapp’s interaction with JUSD administrators. 

« On September 8, 2025, [JUSD] Superintendent [Trenton] Hansen and Dave Sapp spoke regarding the USDOJ lawsuit mentioned in your email, which includes allegations related to Jurupa USD. Dave followed up to share a copy of the State’s Motion to Dismiss, which had been filed the week before and was otherwise publicly available. Dave did not give the district any directives or suggestions regarding its handling of the transgender athlete situation or related media interactions, » the statement read. 

The school district began to consciously ignore media inquiries

JUSD administrators kept a spreadsheet documenting media coverage of their volleyball situation, keeping track of the online stories being written and any correspondence with the journalists who wrote them.  

For the first 27 stories, published from Aug. 8 to Sept. 4, the spreadsheet states that either a statement was provided or no request was made. The district provided responses for 10 different stories, plus an on-air interview for CBS affiliate KCAL and an in-person interview for The Press Enterprise.

Then, on Sept. 6, for the first time, the district wrote in the spreadsheet that it chose not to respond to an inquiry. It was for a Fox News Digital story on Hazameh and McPherson stepping away from the team. 

From Sept. 6 to Jan. 14, the spreadsheet recorded 15 stories in which the district stated that it chose not to respond to an inquiry. The outlets who were not given responses include OutKick, Fox News Digital, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and Newsweek.

A Sept. 20 email from a school spokesperson to a fellow administrator read, « I think I can ignore this one? » while forwarding an inquiry regarding forfeits from Fox News Digital. 

« FYI… I am ignoring this one, » a school spokesperson wrote in an email to another administrator, forwarding a media inquiry about the forfeits from a reporter at The Christian Post on Oct. 20. 

A Sept. 25 email from KCBS2 and KCAL9 News inquiring about the forfeits was forwarded between administrators, with one writing, « Update: He also left a voicemail wanting to confirm the forfeit. I’m planning to ignore. »

An Oct. 15 email read, « I think we made the right choice by not responding, » while forwarding a Fox News Digital article about one of the reported forfeits. The school did not respond to six inquiries for that particular story, as stated in the spreadsheet.

Jurupa administrators even spoke to each other about the forfeits that it declined to verify to the press. A Sept. 17 email between administrators referenced three forfeits from three opposing teams during a weekend tournament. One email read, « They were this weekend at the Roosevelt Tournament, » while forwarding a news article about the three forfeits.

« There were multiple teams that canceled but were less public because it was during tournament play, » another email on the thread wrote.

JUSD confirmed a late September forfeit against Patriot High School – a school in their own district – to Fox News Digital. 

The spreadsheet states the district only responded to two total inquiries after Sept. 6, one being to confirm the Patriot forfeit to Fox News Digital, and the other to confirm the same thing to The Press Enterprise. 

Other than those two instances, JUSD did not respond to any other inquires after Sept. 6, per the spreadsheet.

The regular season came to an end in October. Jurupa Valley finished tied for first place in the River Valley League and were off to the CIF playoffs. 

That’s when their paths would cross with students of PYLUSD — the other district near the top of the Trump admin’s recent list of new Title IX investigation targets.

The last dance

In May 2025, the PYLUSD board considered a resolution to limit girls’ sports to « biological females, » but it failed on a 3-2 vote because, as noted by a school district representative, « board resolutions cannot overrule state law. »

Then in October, a school within the PYLUSD, Valencia High School, was pitted against Jurupa Valley for the first round of the girls’ volleyball state playoffs. 

Valencia’s team opted to play the game. But two players on Valencia did not take the court that night. 

The parents of two female players for Valencia who chose not to play that night previously provided a joint statement, the parents say was written by the two girls, to Fox News Digital on the condition of anonymity.

« On October 18, our team was informed that we would be playing Jurupa Valley High School in Round 1 of CIF. When scouting the team, we quickly realized that they had a transgender player who we would be competing against on October 22. Ten other teams had previously forfeited against Jurupa, which alarmed our team and led us to consider whether we should play or not, » the statement began.

« Due to our beliefs and values, we decided to sit out and not attend our first-round CIF (California Interscholastic Federation) game. We believe that allowing males in women’s sports is unfair, creates safety concerns, and goes against our faith. We value fair competition and integrity in volleyball, and our hope is to continue playing the sport we love without having to be in a position where we know the situation is wrong. »

The two girls went on to cite their Christian faith as a reason for not playing, and insisted their actions were not aimed directly at the trans athlete.

« As Christians, our decision to sit out of this game was not hard to make, but it was uncomfortable being the only ones to do so. We chose not only to sit out from playing, but also not to attend the game, as a way to show our stance and our disagreement. Our goal was not to single out [the trans athlete], but to express our belief that biological males should not compete in women’s sports, » the statement continued. 

« Our decision was not made out of hate or discrimination toward anyone, but rather from our conviction in fairness and faith. It is our hope that the integrity of women’s sports is honored and preserved. »

Valencia went on to win the playoff game, ending Jurupa Valley’s season and seemingly ending the trans player’s high school volleyball career.

Hazameh and McPherson were there in the stands that night. They were joined by a crowd of local ‘Save Girls’ Sports’ protesters, led by prominent activist and former NCAA women’s soccer player Sophia Lorey. 

But the protest wasn’t Hazameh and McPherson’s first choice. They wanted to sit with their teammates on the team bench.

Hazameh and McPherson previously told Fox News Digital that their girls’ volleyball coach instructed them to give her prior notice if they wanted to sit with their teammates on the bench for games. The girls claim they told their coach they wanted to sit with their teammates for the playoff game against Valencia, but were not given permission. 

An Oct. 27 email sent by Jurupa Valley High School’s assistant principal to Hazameh’s mom, Hanan Hazameh, addressed the mother’s concerns about Hadeel not being able to sit on the bench with teammates. 

« After reviewing the matter, I confirmed that [the coach] did not instruct [redacted] or any other player that they were required to ask for permission to sit on the bench during volleyball games. Regarding your concern about the CIF game, I confirmed that [redacted] was not permitted to sit on the bench, » the email read.

« Your email request regarding sitting on the bench was sent at 5:18 p.m. During that time, I was driving to Valencia High School and did not have access to my email. I did not see the message until later that evening, as I was assisting with supervision during the game to help ensure the event ran smoothly and safely. If you had called me earlier in the day we could have discussed your concerns before the game. » 

So the two teens spent the game hanging with « Save Girls’ Sports » protesters, who welcomed them with open arms.

It was a tense night. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex., re-shared a photo on X of two California residents who appeared to give malicious gestures to Hazameh and McPherson. 

« If you do this to little girls, your heart has turned entirely dark, » Cruz wrote.

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As Hazameh looks to a future without sports, she will look to continue her education, and is a member in the California movement to fight for Title IX. 

It didn’t start that way. It wasn’t her plan. She wanted to play volleyball and run track and field. But California’s policies put her in the same locker room with a biological male for nearly four years forced her to this point.

And her story is just one of the many across California and the country involving girls who have been affected by such cases. 

As the Trump administration continues its crackdown on the issue, other girls like Hazameh, McPherson and others can only watch and hope for reconciliation.

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