Exclusive | Volleyball player fights for truth after being severely injured by trans opponent: If only my rights had been more important than a mans feelings
Payton McNabb had dreams of becoming a college athlete, until a volleyball spiked by a transgender competitor came within inches of killing her when she was 17 and forever changed the trajectory of her life.Now, in the hopes of preventing history from repeating itself, she’s sharing her story in the new documentary “Kill Shot: How Payton McNabb Turned Tragedy Into Triumph,” created by the Independent Women’s Forum.“If my story can in any way help prevent this from happening to at least just one woman or girl, then it was all worth it,” McNabb, now 19, told The Post. Before that fateful game in 2022, McNabb and her teammates at Hiwassee Dam High School in Murphy, NC, were aware of a transgender player on the opposing team but afraid to speak their concerns.“We never thought we would ever be put in this position to begin with,” she said.“I didn’t know one person who agreed with [a transgender athlete competing against us] on my team, but we didn’t know what to do.”The match was relatively uneventful until that player spiked the ball directly into McNabb’s head, knocking her unconscious for 30 seconds and sending the whole gym into a shocked silence.Everyone else — including the trans player — ultimately finished the game, while McNabb was rushed off the court with a concussion, neck injury and two black eyes.“It was 100% avoidable, if only my rights as a female athlete had been more important than a man’s feelings,” she said. The full extent of her injury unfolded over weeks, as McNabb was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury, a brain bleed, partial paralysis and loss of peripheral vision on her right side.
She also suffered ongoing memory loss, confusion and severe headaches.“The guilt Payton’s father and I carry is heavy,” her mother, Pamela McNabb, told The Post.“At the time we weren’t allowed to speak up.
We couldn’t say, ‘No, she’s not playing against a boy, it’s dangerous.’”As a lifelong athlete, h...