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VICE Sports

What Actually Happens When a Trans Athlete Transitions

Fears of trans women taking over women’s sports simply doesn’t match up with the reality of the effects that transitioning and hormone replacement therapy have on an athlete’s body.

Natalie Washington, a forward for Rushmoor FC, a seventh-division women's team in England, recently bundled in her first competitive goal in three years. It was not a thing of beauty.

"It was probably one of the worst goals I've ever scored!" the 33-year-old recalled. "I put the keeper under pressure after a backpass, a defender got in the way, the keeper cleared it into the defender, it bounced off me and went in! I didn't even really feel I could be that happy about it because it was so rubbish."

Her team wound up losing the match 7-3, but for Natalie, who is a transgender woman, just getting back on the pitch after transitioning was an accomplishment.

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