Álex Alcaide was born a girl 25 years ago. Three and a half ago he started a treatment to be a boy. But he continues to play in the subsidiary of the women’s Club Esportiu Europa, from the Catalan second division, which last weekend thrashed Pujadas 23-0. Álex, who plays center forward, scored two goals. The club posted an image of the soccer player on Twitter that went viral given his obvious physical differences with respect to his teammates. The episode served to reopen the debate on the legality or convenience of a trans athlete competing in the category of her or adopted sex or that he does so in the biological category. “How did you realize that he felt like a man?” —Since I was little, when I was four or five years old, I already felt it. I got to school and found myself laughing, teasing, and that makes you try to get society to accept you, make you a character to fit in without people criticizing or judging you. When I get out of ESO I begin to think that maybe something is wrong, that there is something wrong with me. I don’t feel comfortable with myself. Speaking with a former classmate from school, who had also made the transition, I confessed what was happening to me and how I felt. “It’s just what happened to me,” he replied. So I decided to make the change and that was when my whole world took a complete turn, my life was for the better and I felt that I was happy, that I was finally with myself and I knew who I was. Finally it was Alex. —How was his childhood? Did he take refuge in football? -Yes. Football has always been my refuge. I didn’t have a good time at school, but I was going to train and it was my only escape route, it could be me, no one judged me, it was my relief. Football has always been my salvation. When was the key moment? —A little over three and a half years ago when I decided to make the decision because I think it’s time. So I was playing in a women’s team in Vilassar de Mar. My team was one of the first to know about it, I mentioned it and luckily they all supported me. My teammates and the coaching staff made it very easy for me and they didn’t make me feel strange. —How did his environment take it? It is a natural but hard process. At home, as much as they have helped me, it is a ‘heavy’ change and difficult to assimilate. There are better and worse moments. In the end I am left with the fact that I have been very lucky that my parents have supported me, my friends too, and they have made everything easier. —The great challenge was to reconcile with the mirror, right? —Every time you look at yourself you see something that doesn’t fit and when you change, you see the voice, the image and you say: “Wow, what a waste of time. Now it’s me.” You have always known it, but until your head is ready to make the decision, you do not make it. In fact, the question my father asked me was: “Why now and not before?” I have always had a very masculine aspect and it was something that could be expected. Then he replied that at that moment was when he was ready. Before I was suffering buying, I was having a hard time, so my head was not for that but for going unnoticed without people judging me for dressing a certain way or for my haircut. When I got over it, I saw that the problem was not buying, but something else was going on. – Is an accompaniment necessary in this process? —I can tell you about my case and when I made the decision it was so clear… I knew what was happening and everything made sense in my head. In my case I have not needed that psychological support so much because I felt very strong. Making the change gave me a lot of strength. Looking good was what made me ratify my decision. My parents’ fear was what would happen if I regretted it, but it was clear that I knew what I wanted. —And how do they put up with 20 years like this? —Yes, it is true that sometimes you think that if I had started earlier I would have lived a different kind of childhood, but you can take it in many ways. You can think that it is a lost time and cry sorrow or think that in the end everything that I have lived in this time without becoming me has led me to be who I am today. If I hadn’t gone through that process I wouldn’t have the strength I have right now. I take it as an apprenticeship. —How are you experiencing the transition? What is the hardest? I am very lucky both at home and on the street. By having a more masculine appearance, people already identify me as such, which is being very simple. Now that I finally know who I am, I’m finally living. It is being very simple. —What attitudes do you find on a soccer field? —From my colleagues I have always had incredible support. Yes, it is true that in women’s football there are many of these cases… It seems that I am the only one and that is why there has been such a stir, but it is not true. I come from playing in the Maresme league and there we were at least six kids playing on different teams. It is common and very normalized in women’s sport. Yes, it is true that sometimes from the stands you hear comments from parents that when their team is not winning they complain that a boy is playing. But if you inform yourself, the reality is not that. People, without knowing, talk more than necessary. “Have you been afraid to go outside?” —Yes, but especially before making the transition. I would go out into the street in fear and with my head down, trying not to let anyone talk to me. I have endured insults. But since I made the transition, since they already identify me as a man, there is no longer any problem, nobody messes with me and makes me go out on the street with my head up and without fear —And after a soccer game? -Nope. In the end it all comes down to four comments but I have never found someone coming directly at me. Related News standard No Álex, a transgender footballer who continues to play in the female category, reopens the debate on networks María Carbajo standard No Iniesta, about homosexuality in football, with Jordi Wild: «The player should feel free to say so» F CANAS —And how do you feel about those insults and those reproaches? A former player from this club, Valentina Berr, had to withdraw because she couldn’t take it anymore… —In the best way I can. It’s not pleasant, but my previous team, Vilassar, which was when it happened to me the most, as soon as something happened, my teammates came to my defense and confronted the person who insulted me. It happened in a specific game and always away from home. Rival teams have always had the utmost respect. They know that the party does not opt for one person. “Are you surprised that this is surprising?” —No, because of what is being seen today in society. In the end, if it continues to surprise us that a man is homosexual in men’s football, won’t it surprise us that a trans person is playing in women’s football? We still have a long way to go and a lot to understand and learn. —In the end he has given visibility to a reality… —Yes. I am not the only trans man. In women’s football there are several of us who are in that situation and I think that giving it a voice can help in a certain way. All the lack of knowledge that there is… in the end it is misinformation and if this helps those people to inform themselves a little… —What advantage does being a man in a women’s team give you? “None really. If I shredded myself in the gym, I’d gain muscle before a woman. She would get the same muscle but she would need more time. But in speed there are colleagues in my team who compete with me and beat me. Where is the advantage? The day I see that I am far superior to the feminine and can harm people because of my condition, it will be time to step aside and leave it. But right now I don’t have any advantage and I don’t think he’s doing anything wrong by playing football. —And if he feels like a man, why doesn’t he play in a men’s team? —The first thing because as long as my DNI continues to put an ‘F’ for female, I’m registered as a woman and I couldn’t play on a male team. Also, by starting the transition late, my body had already developed as a woman and the change is not going to be as big as that of a boy who starts taking hormones before his body develops. —Do you use a different wardrobe from that of your companions? —I asked my companions if it affected them in any way or if it bothered them that I showered with them, but in the end we were a family. I have the same genitalia as them, I’m not going to see anything that interests me and I’m not going to take advantage of anything. In the end they are teammates, I am not going to see them as something else. If they don’t have a problem, why should I? —What do you think of the ‘trans law’? “I think it will help us.” That the kids can access the procedure before, will help to prevent all these situations from happening. If you give a kid the benefit of being able to change gender earlier, you are benefiting him and that also means that he can start the transition earlier.
