At just 17 years old, Payton McNabb’s dreams of becoming a college athlete were shattered during a volleyball game that would forever alter her life. A ball spiked by a transgender opponent struck her in the head, resulting in severe injuries that derailed her athletic future. Now 19, McNabb is using her story to champion the rights of female athletes in a documentary titled *"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 told *The Post.*  

The incident took place in 2022 during a high school volleyball game at Hiwassee Dam High School in Murphy, North Carolina. McNabb and her teammates were aware of the transgender athlete on the opposing team but felt powerless to express 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.”  

 

What began as a routine match turned devastating when the opposing player delivered a spike that hit McNabb’s head, knocking her unconscious for 30 seconds. As the gym fell silent, McNabb was rushed off the court with what initially appeared to be 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,” McNabb reflected.  

 

The full extent of her injuries unfolded over the following weeks. Diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury, a brain bleed, partial paralysis, and permanent vision loss on her right side, McNabb also faced memory loss, confusion, and debilitating headaches. Her mother, Pamela McNabb, expressed deep regret, saying, “The guilt Payton’s father and I carry is heavy. 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.’”  

 

A lifelong athlete, McNabb was devastated to miss her senior volleyball season. “I had the hopes and dreams of playing college softball and I had the opportunities too, but my injury set me back, and it didn’t end up working out,” she said. “I was really depressed.”  

 

The new documentary offers a raw and emotional account of McNabb’s journey, featuring footage of the incident and interviews with her family, who speak publicly for the first time. Her mother’s message in the film is clear: “I would never, ever let her play today if I knew what I know now. Pull your kid. Don’t play. It is not worth what has happened to her to happen to anybody else’s child.”  

 

Despite her ordeal, McNabb chose to channel her experience into advocacy. In April 2023, at age 17, she testified before the North Carolina General Assembly in support of the Fairness in Women’s Sports Bill. Though stepping into the spotlight was outside her comfort zone, McNabb felt compelled to speak out for future generations. “I thought about this happening to my younger sister or, if I have kids one day, my daughter, and I seriously just cannot accept that at all,” she said.  

 

Shortly after her testimony, North Carolina enacted legislation banning transgender athletes from competing in female sports at the middle school, high school, and college levels.  

 

McNabb’s story has become a rallying cry for many, serving as a stark reminder of the importance of preserving fairness and safety in women’s sports. Her courage in turning personal tragedy into a movement for change ensures her voice will resonate far beyond the volleyball court.

 

 

Based on a report by NYP 2024-12-19

 

 

 

The world can always use another Riley Gaines. 

One more P.O.S bloke in women's sport.

 

Hope the Wokies are enjoying the fruits of their labour. 

 

More women's dreams shattered.

8 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

Hope the Wokies are enjoying the fruits of their labour. 

 

More women's dreams shattered.

IMO they would consider her as collateral damage. Seems it blew up in their faces when trans were banned in school female sports.

There exists a nontrivial number of trans who were initially incels.  The transition from incel to trans female is the ultimate F*** you to the biological females that rejected them.  What better payback then to dominate them in their own spaces such as female sports.

Poor child.

 

It really is grossly unfair.

 

She has had her dreams shattered, and her opportunities taken away because of the self-righteous demands of a freak. He was not a female basketball player, he was a male basketball player, with the attributes of a male, size and muscular power, playing against girls. Utterly wrong.

 

I don't care if he identifies as a woman, dresses as a woman or sits down to pee! He can in that, as far as I am concerned, fill his boots; but he is a man, genetically and physically, and should not have been competing with girls in that sport. What he did to her demonstrates that.

 

I'm sorry for this incident, but I'm sure things like this happen between athletes in many sports without a transgender athlete being involved.

There are many mixed sex volleyball teams around or were in my competitive days playing. I actually played in 2. Women seemed to be better in some areas of the sport, but not in spiking or blocking due to their height generally. However if teams are of one sex, then that is what they should be. Women against women and men against men. That has to be the case in all sports.

I like her puppy fat - it works.

Payton McNabb’s VolleyBall dreams Shattered by Transgender Opponent.

 

There's one secure way to stop those Wannabes competing in Women's Teams. 

Stand together and Refuse to compete against a team that has one or more wannabes in there team.

13 hours ago, Social Media said:

transgender

 

No such thing. Only mentally ill men wearing women's clothes.

25 minutes ago, freedomnow said:

I like her puppy fat - it works.

 

  She is 17 years old .

2 hours ago, freedomnow said:

I like her puppy fat - it works.

She was, by accounts, an athletic teenage girl.

 

She is now an invalid, unable to play her sports of volleyball and softball.

 

And now we see, from her documentary film, that the creature who injured her has the self obsessed brazen arrogance to tell her that she is obsessed, "living rent free in her head".  

 

No wonder she has put on some weight! I think she is rather pretty, and it seems from the OP quite determined and brave. Speaking out like that, overcoming an injury inflicted in such a way, and resulting in a life altering disability, requires significant courage, especially for a 17 year old. I wish her well, and support her campaign.

She had no real career as a volleyball player. If that put her out then she wouldn't have been viable as a pro in a limited market. She was a college player and that really isn't much of anything. I joked about Riley Gaines but it is the same story. A player that would never been heard of two years from now can parlay their participation in a sport into a social justice crusader.

 

I am not saying it is right or wrong but that's the reality. Nothing rednecks love more than reading and hearing about trans stories of any kind, it sells.

8 hours ago, Oliver Holzerfilled said:

There exists a nontrivial number of trans who were initially incels.  The transition from incel to trans female is the ultimate F*** you to the biological females that rejected them.  What better payback then to dominate them in their own spaces such as female sports.

 

This is why I dress up before I go out to Soi Siped. To give Farang men the ultimate F*** you.

 

Wait.... I think I'm doing it wrong

19 hours ago, herfiehandbag said:

Poor child.

 

It really is grossly unfair.

 

She has had her dreams shattered, and her opportunities taken away because of the self-righteous demands of a freak. He was not a female basketball player, he was a male basketball player, with the attributes of a male, size and muscular power, playing against girls. Utterly wrong.

 

I don't care if he identifies as a woman, dresses as a woman or sits down to pee! He can in that, as far as I am concerned, fill his boots; but he is a man, genetically and physically, and should not have been competing with girls in that sport. What he did to her demonstrates that.

 

volleyball, not basketball

1 hour ago, LukKrueng said:

volleyball, not basketball

I know, thank you. I realised too late to edit my mistake, although I corrected myself in my subsequent post.

they can always forfeit ... and bring it in the news of unfair sportsMANship