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A 25-year-old Isabelle Neris became the first transgender volleyball player to officially compete in Brazil. She made her debut for the club Voleiras in the low ranked league in Brazil, last weekend, and will soon play for the Cup of Curitiba.
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Isabelle, a former hairdresser, got a green light from the Volleyball Federation of Paraná (one of the Brazilian states) to compete in Women’s competition after submitting all required documents: identity document, document of legal name change and hormonal tests, which showed testosterone level to be the same as other female volleyball players. Federation from Paraná even requested help from Brazilian Volleyball Confederation for a scientific study in these cases with the intent to further secure political and sporting rights for transgender players.
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Isabelle said that she found her inspiration in Tiffany Pereira de Abreu, who recently caused commotion by making her debut for Italian Division 2 side Golem Software Palmi. But the difference between these two players is that Isabelle has never played in Men’s competition…
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“(Tiffany’s story) was the fuse for me not to give up on my dream. We must go after what we want. We are the generation of change. People will want to stop us, but we should not give up if that is our dream,” Isabelle said.
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