Meet Kye Allums-The NCAA's First Open Trans Baller

I was already looking forward to the start of the 2010-11 NCAA women's basketball season     I am curious as to how Brittney Griner's sophomore season at Baylor will unfold and whether she and the Lady Bears can make it back to the Final Four.

I'm also interested in seeing if UConn can go unbeaten again and win (ho hum) another NCAA title in Maya Moore's senior season.

There's also this interesting piece of news coming out of Washington DC.   For  years there have been on the down low rumors about  transpeople quietly playing collegiate sports on both sides of the gender divide.  On November 13 an open NCAA trans ball player will be a reality.

Meet transman Kye Allums.   The junior guard  from Minnesota plays for the Division I George Washington University women's team and is in the process of transitioning..  

“A name is just a bunch of letters, but the letters make up a word and the words that make up my name have so many more emotions behind them,” Allums said. "My old name, that’s just not me. When I hear Kye, everything feels okay, everything is right.”

When Kye steps onto the court at the Best Buy Classic to play Wisconsin-Green Bay in Minneapolis, he will become the first open transperson to play NCAA Div 1 collegiate basketball. 

While Allums will be making a small step for himself and a giant leap for transkind, it will also jump start some interesting and long overdue discussions about trans athletes and how and where they fit into NCAA collegiate athletics.

With transkids transitioning at earlier ages, the day is fast approaching when talented trans athletes like Kye will not be a novelty, and it's time for the NCAA, high school athletic associations and other youth sports groups to deal with that reality.