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EXCLUSIVE: Prominent transgender athlete Blaire Fleming has made allegations about former teammate Brooke Slusser’s lifestyle and academics. Slusser has denied the allegations.
Last Sunday, on the one-year anniversary of their last college volleyball game together for San Jose State, a conference championship loss, Slusser told Pakinomist Digital that she developed an eating disorder that led to anorexia and the loss of her menstrual cycle.
Slusser said the ailments stemmed from the emotional distress she suffered during her final season with Fleming in 2024. Slusser filed multiple lawsuits after discovering Fleming was transgender and that the two had shared locker rooms and bedrooms during their first season together in 2023.
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Slusser also fled the San Jose State campus and later dropped his classes in his final semester last spring. She said constant personal harassment from students who opposed her position made her feel “unsafe” there. She and her family said she is still working to finish her education.
Fleming responded to Pakinomist Digital’s social media inquiry for a response to Slusser’s revelations.
Blaire Fleming of the San Jose State Spartans looks on during the third set against the Air Force Falcons on Falcon Court at the East Gym on October 19, 2024 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. (Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)
“She’s been anorexic and struggled with food since I’ve known her[,] aka since 2023. She would literally weigh herself 2-3 times a day and keep track of it on her board in her room…. So I really don’t care or feel sorry for her. And she didn’t drop her classes[,] she failed[,] hope that helps!” Fleming wrote. “Now stop looking me up.”
Slusser has issued a statement to Pakinomist Digital disputing Fleming’s claims.
“These statements are just not true. I have always lived a very healthy lifestyle. Before these events took place[,] I was very disciplined in burning myself for athletics and [kept] tracks to make sure I was where I needed to be[,] to be the best athlete. It wasn’t until all the craziness started that my healthy lifestyle became very unhealthy to not eating the amount I should,” Slusser said.
“Regarding the school[,] I decided to stay home after the fall of 2024 to improve and heal. So no[,] I didn’t return to San Jose and enroll in more courses at an institution that didn’t have my best interest at heart.”
Former SJSU volleyball star Brooke Slusser and her parents Paul and Kim Slusser at a match on Sept. 8, which Kim claims is “the last good memory we have of her playing.” (Courtesy of Kim Slusser)
Pakinomist Digital’s initial inquiry to Fleming began with a reference to Slusser’s response to Fleming’s claim to be “suicidal” during the 2024 season, reported in a New York Times Magazine profile in April. The outlet also reported that Fleming cried “almost every night” during the scandal.
Slusser said of Fleming’s suicidal thoughts, “If it is [Fleming] went through, it’s terrible.”
Fleming has previously said that Slusser “needs to get a life.” This statement came in response to allegations by former SJSU assistant volleyball coach Melissa Batie-Smoose that Fleming received special treatment from head coach Todd Kress.
“Brooke Slusser and Melissa need to get a life,” Fleming told Pakinomist Digital on Oct. 1.
Slusser replied, “I have a great life.”
Who is Blaire Fleming?
Fleming, a biological male, was born in 2002 at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, just south of Omaha, according to the athlete’s SJSU Athletics profile. But Fleming grew up in Virginia.
According to The New York Times, Fleming discovered transgenderism in the 8th grade. Then, at 14, Fleming reportedly worked with a doctor and therapist to “socially and medically” transition.
Fleming played girls volleyball at John Champe High School. At a listed height of 6-foot-1, Fleming is two inches taller than the average women’s college volleyball recruit at 5-foot-9, according to NCSA College Recruitment.
In November 2018, Fleming posted a highlight scroll for college recruiters on high school sports social media site Hudl. Most of the clips show the same type of play over and over again – Fleming leaping high over the net and slamming the ball down as trap music blared in the background.
As a senior, Fleming led John Champe to a historic 19-win season in 2019, was named first-team all-district and set the school’s single-season record for kills in a season, according to Fleming’s SJSU profile page.
Fleming’s college career began at Coastal Carolina during the COVID-affected 2020 season.
After a 9-1 regular season, Coastal Carolina reached the Sun Belt Conference championship game against Texas State, but lost in five sets.
Fleming transferred to SJSU prior to the 2022 season.
How did it get to this point between Slusser and Fleming?
Brooke Slusser #10 and Blaire Fleming #3 of the San Jose State Spartans call a play during the first set against the Air Force Falcons on Falcon Court at the East Gym on October 19, 2024 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. (Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)
Slusser transferred to SJSU for the 2023 season — a year after Fleming did. Slusser has claimed in her lawsuits against the NCAA and the Mountain West Conference that she was never told Fleming’s birth sex and that the two regularly shared hotel rooms on road trips.
Slusser and Batie-Smoose, who is leading his own lawsuit against the university, have told Pakinomist Digital that Fleming allegedly requested to be accommodated with Slusser and was reportedly granted that request by team management.
“Blaire wanted to be with Brooke Slusser and that’s who Blaire felt comfortable with, so Blaire gets what Blaire wants,” Batie-Smoose said.
Pakinomist Digital previously reached out to Fleming and SJSU for a response to these allegations.
Slusser has alleged in his lawsuits against the NCAA and the Mountain West that Fleming confessed to being transgender during an on-ice conversation with another teammate in April 2024.
Slusser then joined Riley Gaines’ lawsuit against the NCAA in September 2024. What followed was a series of forfeitures by opposing teams. Each forfeit compounded the growing attention of an election-season media cycle, putting SJSU’s volleyball players and their opponents in a massive political spotlight.
President Donald Trump even mentioned the scandal on his campaign trail in October of that year during an all-town hall Pakinomist Channel event.
Police protection was assigned to the team at regular intervals.
Slusser has claimed in her lawsuit against the Mountain West, filed in November, that she was allegedly informed by teammates about an alleged conversation Fleming had with an opponent in which she discussed a plan to spike Slusser in the face during a game. Batie-Smoose reported the same allegations in a Title IX complaint against the school and was later suspended and did not have her contract renewed in January.
Mountain West commissioned a third-party investigation into the allegations against Fleming and determined that insufficient evidence could be found to impose discipline.
Pakinomist Digital has reported extensively on the conditions of this investigation and its handling, prompting critical responses from the White House, the US Department of Justice and members of Congress.
EX-SJSU STAR BROOKE SLUSSER MAKES NEW ALLEGATIONS TO INVESTIGATE TRANS TEAMMAT ALLEGED PLOT TO HARM HER
In the waning weeks of the 2024 regular season, Slusser and 10 other plaintiffs in her lawsuit against the Mountain West filed a request for a preliminary injunction to have Fleming ruled unable to continue playing and to have the forfeiture to SJSU overturned. Federal umpire Kato Crews, appointed by former President Joe Biden, denied the request and kept Slusser and Fleming on the field together for practice and games.
Slusser and Fleming were ultimately named to the Mountain West all-conference team, SJSU’s only honor.
They finished the season with a 14-7 record, aided by six conference losses, then advanced to the Mountain West championship game after Boise State lost in the divisional round.
But they lost in the title match to Colorado State, three sets to one. The loss ensured the Spartans would not carry their scandal into the NCAA Tournament.
Slusser left campus soon after at the insistence of her parents. According to The New York Times, Fleming also resumed teaching remotely the following semester from Virginia.
Slusser said she was close to returning to play NCAA beach volleyball this spring, and even had discussions with coaches at other schools about recruiting. But she ultimately decided against it and moved to North Carolina, where she has served as a youth volleyball coach.
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Slusser and her family say she has recovered from her anorexia and is working to finish her degree. She aspires to start her own business in dietetics.
Fleming appeared to celebrate graduating from SJSU in a post on her Instagram Stories in May.
The U.S. Department of Education is currently investigating the university for potential violations of Title IX.
