.

“We are proud of our JVHS Jaguars and their willingness to play any team and represent their school and our district with pride,” the district’s statement said. JUSD said that it was working to reschedule new matches so the team could play and not lose more time.

The latest forfeits follow the Aug. 15 decision by Riverside Poly High School to pull out of a match against Jurupa Valley. Parents of players and a local school board member told Fox News Digital that the decision was a direct result of the team’s transgender player, senior AB Hernandez.

Mother of Trans Athlete Responds as Scrutiny Heats Up

In a statement shared with Fox News Digital, Hernandez’s mother, Nereyda Hernandez, addressed the growing backlash against her daughter’s team. She said she empathized with parents who have shared their discomfort with the situation, adding that she had been there in the past, but chose to change.

“I understand the discomfort some may feel, because I was once there, too. The difference is, I chose to learn, to grow, and to open my heart,” she said.

In her statement, Hernandez, who is transgender, said her daughter is a small player. She said what makes her daughter different is not her height or muscularity but her athletic skill. “This is a child, and I can assure you that she sees your daughters as peers, as teammates, as friends, not through a lens of anything inappropriate,” she said. She added that her daughter is unaware that the forfeits are happening because of her.

Hernandez recently made headlines in the spring track and field season when she won two California state titles in the long jump and triple jump. Female athletes and their parents, many of whom wore “Save Girls’ Sports” shirts, staged protests. Trump weighed in on the matter before the state finals by posting a message on Truth Social in which he called on California not to allow a trans athlete to compete, without mentioning Hernandez by name.

The U.S. Department of Justice in July sued the California Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) over its policies allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls’ sports, despite an executive order Trump signed in February that banned the practice.

Hernandez, who is in her senior year and final season of high school volleyball, should be focused on the season. Instead, she is being defined by forfeits and increased polarization in the community.

Munoz, a Jurupa Valley parent whose daughter has played on the team with Hernandez for three years, told Fox News Digital she was upset with how things have played out. “It makes me feel sad, it makes me feel angry, frustrated, just so many emotions,” she said.

Community tensions have bubbled up in school board meetings as well. At a recent Riverside Unified School District board meeting, parents of Riverside Poly students took to the podium with a mix of support for the athletes who decided not to play and others who defended the rights of transgender students to play.

During the meeting, Nereyda Hernandez called out Riverside board member Amanda Vickers, who had previously told Fox News Digital about the forfeit. “You actually entertained and welcomed harassment to my child,” she said, referring to Vickers. “You are a board member. You have an oath to protect, to support all children, not just the ones that fit your ideas, your beliefs.”

Hernandez also stated that the pushback was not coming from parents simply trying to keep girls’ sports fair for women. She accused outside groups with political and religious motivations of organizing parents against one another and their children. “This has nothing to do with fairness in sports and everything to do with erasing transgender children,” she said.

Parents such as Maria Carrillo have taken a different approach, saying that they were with the Riverside Poly girls, not parents who are supporting their children if they are transgender. “Poly girls, we stand with you. Keep fighting, because these parents who support their confused child are the problem,” Carrillo said.

Jurupa Valley’s girls’ volleyball regular season is set to go through mid-October. Parents of girls who have been affected by forfeits will have to hope that is the case because there could be more.

Trump recently doubled down on California in a post on Truth Social. “If Governor Gavin Newsom and school districts in California don’t follow the rules my Administration sets on transgender issues, federal money will not be going to those school districts!” Trump wrote.