April 12, 2022

Before she made the Seneca Sting women’s volleyball team, CL Viloria used to play on the boys’ team in high school. Back then, she didn’t think it was possible to be on the right team for her, fearing how people would react.

Today, the Practical Nursing student is not only the first varsity athlete at Seneca to have openly identified herself as transgender, but she has been one of the key players on the court this season.

“I love volleyball,” said Ms. Viloria, who received the Bonnie Bacvar Scholarship last week for her leadership, academic achievements and athletic success. “I was scared to be me before and to do all the things I wanted to do. But I really wanted to play. I wanted to be on the team.”

Ms. Viloria began playing volleyball during elementary school in the Philippines. Even though she was a young boy then, she knew she wanted to be the person she is now. By high school, she had decided to change her gender when the time was right.

In Grade 11, Ms. Viloria was new in Canada and playing for her school’s boys’ volleyball team.

“I enjoyed it, but I wasn’t comfortable playing with men,” she recalled. “Some of my teammates knew, and they weren’t comfortable with me, either.”

It was only after coming to Seneca as a part-time student, consulting a doctor and getting her parents’ support, that Ms. Viloria began hormone replacement therapy. She had been on her medication for four months when she tried out for the Sting and made an impression on the coaching staff.

“We recognized her potential and felt we could help her become a better player,” head coach Anthony Fong said.

However, Ms. Viloria was told she may not be able to play due to the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association’s (CCAA) transgender policy, which required transgender athletes to have completed hormone replacement therapy for at least one year.

Another challenge she faced was the rule that any varsity athlete at Seneca must be a full-time student.

To help Ms. Viloria overcome these challenges, Seneca’s Sport & Recreation, Student Services and the Office of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion teams came together to help her switch from part-time to full-time studies.

Seneca joined Humber College, which had a similar case, in an appeal to both the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) and the CCAA to have the transgender policy updated to be more inclusive.

With unanimous support from the OCAA, the appeal process was expedited at the CCAA, and changes were made at a special meeting.

Gillian McCullough, Director, Sport & Recreation, applauds the decision. Policies, she says, should be inclusive, supportive and encourage participation in the gender categories for all athletes.

“At the end of the day, they did the right thing,” Ms. McCullough said. “Transgender athletes shouldn’t have to disclose where they are with their transition process or whether they have begun one at all. Not everybody can do what CL did — she had to come forward for us to challenge the rule. That took leadership and courage. She’s such an inspirational story for everybody.”

Alba Martinez, who met Ms. Viloria at the volleyball team try-out, says she admires her teammate for being brave.

“She was very open about it from the beginning,” said Ms. Martinez, an Early Childhood Education student. “For the most part, we all knew but we didn’t care. It was nothing that would make us feel different about her. She let us know what she wanted to go by, then it was volleyball after that.”

Ms. Martinez says everyone on the team got to know Ms. Viloria as a person and not as someone in transition.

“We treated her as one of our own,” she said. “We all want her to know that we are behind her 100 per cent with anything she wants to do and any choice she wants to make.”

Ms. Viloria says she couldn’t have asked for a better team.

“I love my team,” she said. “They are my family in volleyball and I’m so comfortable with them. I can be myself — a girl — I don’t have to hide anything.”