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# Changing The Game: trans teenage athletes striving to be the best at their chosen sports while dealing with transitioning
- URL: https://www.scenemag.co.uk/changing-the-game-trans-teenage-athletes-striving-to-be-the-best-at-their-chosen-sports-while-dealing-with-transitioning/
- Published: 2025-02-04T09:50:30.000Z
- Updated: 2025-02-04T10:21:09.000Z
- Description: Michael Barnett’s award-winning documentary Changing The Game follows the journeys of three US trans teenage athletes as they strive to be the best at their chosen sports while dealing with transitioning. It’s a glorious celebration of being who you know yourself truly to be, but also a realistic lo
- Author: Brian Butler
- Tags: LGBT, LGBTQ, Trans, Trans Rights

**Michael Barnett**’s award-winning documentary **Changing The Game** follows the journeys of three US trans teenage athletes as they strive to be the best at their chosen sports while dealing with transitioning.

It’s a glorious celebration of being who you know yourself truly to be, but also a realistic look at the bigotry, prejudice and hatred that these teens and many more trans people face every day.

**Mack Beggs** is a Texan wrestler who is transitioning from girl to boy but obliged to fight only in tournaments where the competitors are girls.

In New Hampshire, **Sarah** is a feisty, self-confident influencer, campaigner and Nordic skier, who is told she will have to have re-assignment surgery before she would be allowed to compete as a female.

“I knew I was a girl from the very beginning. I’m trans and I’m strong – and you can be strong too,” she blogs to other trans teenagers.

**Andraya** is a black trans female track runner. Her coach Brian tells us: “she’s competing with all the other girls and that’s how it should be.” She’s lucky because Connecticut has liberal policies towards transitioning. The State’s education boss is clear: “trans females are females; cis gender females are females. Anything else is discriminatory.”

Similarly **Mack**’s coach says: ”I’ll never turn my back on a champion,” and Mack is certainly that – undefeated and two-times State champion, although his true desire is to compete in boys’ contests.

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/changing1-superjumbo-e1738317771926.jpg)

But Barnett’s sensitively directed film also shows the hostile voices that face these youngsters – hateful posts on social media suggesting suicide for instance.

Over 40% of trans teenagers have attempted suicide – a staggering figure.

If the athletes are heroes – so too are their families who are fully supportive – sometimes surprisingly given their conservative and religious backgrounds. The jewel among them is Mack’s grandma who brought him up – she’s a gun-slinging deputy sheriff in Dallas and a Southern Baptist, and his most vociferous champion and defender. “He was never a little girl; we made him a little girl.”

**Andraya**, with no role models of her own, suddenly finds herself the role model and mentor for **Terry**, another black trans teen athlete.

Ironically the claim of unfairness and advantage of these young people is used both ways – unfair a former girl on testosterone is competing with girls, but equally unfair he’s not allowed to compete with boys; and equally unfair, say some, that Andraya has the physique of a young man and is competing with girls.

In the end the film shows us the courage, determination and self-awareness that these four teenagers demonstrate every day of their lives – struggling to be who they really are.

How will they flourish in Trump’s dystopian new order? That is the question. I for one think they will be winners.

**Changing The Game is on major platforms, including Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, and Google Play Movies in the UK.**