Gaines for Girls with Riley Gaines - True Impact with Payton McNabb

00:00:00.000 hey everybody welcome back to the gains for girls podcast uh today's guest is and has been a fearless

00:00:13.300 advocate for women's sports of course um but the way in which she was thrust into this position

00:00:18.820 is unfortunate to say the least it is terrible it is traumatic it's something that no girl

00:00:25.540 or woman or person should ever have to face or experience um but Peyton McNabb she was a high 0.96

00:00:33.260 school senior playing volleyball when I'm sure you've seen the video a boy on the opposing team

00:00:38.840 posing as a woman jumps up spikes the ball hits Peyton in the face to where she is knocked unconscious 1.00

00:00:45.080 where she lays for for minutes before coming back around uh still dealing with these effects of this

00:00:51.380 hit uh this brain injury still to this day and this happened in September of 2022 so nearly almost

00:00:58.200 two years since the hit and she is still going to weekly doctor appointments um which again is just

00:01:04.860 it's a terrible experience but she is using this terrible experience for the benefit of others

00:01:09.680 um as I said she has been someone who has traveled the nation uh she is an ambassador for independent

00:01:15.120 women's forum who has been really the leading group on these issues not limited to just women's

00:01:20.880 sports uh but women's spaces developing the women's bill of rights uh working pretty closely with

00:01:26.120 prisoners who are dealing with men and infiltrating into their all women's prison facilities uh so 0.55

00:01:31.340 everyone should check out independent women's forum at iwf.org um but anyways I just love Peyton she's 1.00

00:01:37.660 become a dear friend we have traveled to many states together um and she's doing incredible work

00:01:42.560 and I think the best thing about Peyton is she's from Murphy North Carolina so she has this awesome 0.88

00:01:48.800 accent um it makes me wish that I was from North Carolina uh but make sure you check out the

00:01:53.860 interview with Peyton McNabb okay Peyton thank you so much for joining um over the past year or so

00:02:01.040 you of course have been a wonderful advocate for keeping women's sports only for women uh but I think

00:02:07.340 more importantly to me you have become a dear friend and someone who I just love and care about a whole lot

00:02:12.880 uh we've done a lot of different things together in the different states across the country so

00:02:17.400 you're just amazing and I appreciate you so much but I wanted you to start by telling us a little bit

00:02:23.000 about your background um and how you got into playing sports okay so I'm from Murphy North Carolina

00:02:31.520 I went to how I should am um since the beginning and uh my dad has always been very involved in the

00:02:40.800 school he was the baseball coach when I was like born until a few years ago and he became the principal

00:02:47.980 of my school and I'm just from a very community involved rural area um so we had to play all the

00:02:56.600 sports for us to even have a team um so I played volleyball basketball and softball I was a year-round

00:03:04.720 athlete in softball playing on travel teams in different states and uh

00:03:10.800 yeah we were I was always in some kind of sport at every any time um so yeah that was a very big part

00:03:17.980 of my life as well as everyone else in my family's so at that point you played so you say basketball

00:03:25.180 volleyball softball flash forward to high school um you still played those sports um but I want to take it

00:03:33.100 to your senior year where this is where I found out about you I think this is where the nation really found

00:03:39.060 out about who you were because unfortunately you were impacted in playing volleyball in a way that

00:03:46.000 unfortunately is becoming more and more common um but take us to that game your senior year

00:03:52.820 where ultimately the trajectory of your life changed yeah so we went into this um game against

00:04:01.960 highlands which um we all knew there was a boy on the team it was like kind of rumored but it was like

00:04:08.940 pretty obvious also so everyone knew uh we didn't want to play them but we had no choice because they

00:04:15.640 were in our conference so we were forced to by our uh North Carolina high school athletic association

00:04:22.140 and um we go into this game and I just remember seeing like I was pretty scared playing against him

00:04:31.420 um so was everyone else on my team we had a really young team and they had never seen him before he was

00:04:37.940 the same age as me so I've seen him all four years um but during COVID that kind of like cut all of our

00:04:44.920 sports and stuff in half so like we didn't really see each other that much and uh he didn't hit puberty

00:04:53.000 until like usually when boys hit puberty so uh that's when it got worse or whatever um but I remember

00:05:01.000 going into this game and seeing like the faces of all the younger girls on the team who had never

00:05:06.920 had to play in before and they were literally shaking they were so scared and uh the whole week

00:05:13.880 leading up to the game we had to practice differently to prepare to play against him

00:05:18.680 because no one else hit the way he did in the whole conference that we went up against and I've talked to

00:05:25.840 like different girls from different teams in the surrounding areas and they had to do the same thing 1.00

00:05:31.480 their teams practice differently to prepare to play against this individual and which is completely

00:05:37.900 ridiculous and like messes up the whole like your whole like uh plan for in general exactly strategy

00:05:46.880 yeah so it was definitely um you know I didn't know we didn't really know what to do and like looking

00:05:55.900 back this really wasn't like you didn't really talk about this issue as much as we do now so I feel like

00:06:03.640 if it was now we just wouldn't have played but at the time we had no idea what to do like we come

00:06:10.120 from an area that I never thought like this would happen we never thought we'd have to see this coming

00:06:15.920 from where we come from because this just doesn't happen so yeah and I think it's important to mention

00:06:23.540 too that and I didn't realize this but in volleyball a boy's net or a man's net is seven and a half

00:06:30.760 inches higher than a woman's net so not only does this boy of course have biological advantages over 0.84

00:06:37.320 you know you girls but also he's basically playing with a handicap and the fact that the net is so much

00:06:43.920 lower than what every other guy has to play with um yeah so of course I mean it's almost as if they're

00:06:50.800 acknowledging that biological advantages exist when they have a net that is that much higher um but

00:06:57.280 anyways you're you go up against him of course you see him on the other side you guys are all just

00:07:02.020 kind of like not sure what to do you're scared um take us through that video that now we have all seen

00:07:10.180 which is incredibly unfortunate I imagine people watching this just like I did like I mean you can't

00:07:15.260 help but put yourself in your shoes like you're watching this and you I mean you're in I'm in pain for

00:07:22.720 you watching this so take us through that yeah so uh I was the setters and I wasn't tall enough to

00:07:30.980 like reach the top of the net so I didn't block or anything and I usually always covered tips so I

00:07:37.320 would go behind our tallest girl who was blocking who still couldn't even come close to the ball um 1.00

00:07:44.500 so I was behind her like usual um and then once I got hit the impact was so hard that it knocked me

00:07:53.780 unconscious for about 30 seconds and I was in a fencing position um so like my hands and legs were up or

00:08:01.440 whatever and um I remember like in the video there's like a scream and then everything is so silent

00:08:09.260 and no one knew what to do like the faces of my teammates and stuff like their hands were like

00:08:15.960 over their face and they were just like terrified of what just happened and um my coach and like my

00:08:25.200 athletic director and everyone like came around me and like was trying to like wake me up and my uh

00:08:32.560 she's like my coach is trying to push my legs down because she doesn't know like what's happening to me

00:08:37.580 and they just keep coming back up but like I'm not awake and then finally when I come to they uh

00:08:44.460 they like help me up and then the other side's trainer asks me what happened and I was like well

00:08:51.460 that boy on y'all's team just hit me in the face and I don't think he was like expecting that kind of

00:08:57.660 answer because I don't think like you're allowed to talk about it or whatever uh but I can't help like

00:09:04.360 what comes out of my mouth so I said that and he was just like oh okay and then carries me off the

00:09:10.800 court um he does one like little finger test on me and then he said that was all good I can go back

00:09:17.380 into play and luckily my coach and athletic director were like no like she's not going back in 0.99

00:09:25.300 and thankfully so because I ended up going to the doctor and I had a concussion permanent whiplash

00:09:33.620 and a brain bleed oh my god with a lot of other things that like follow that so yeah what was the

00:09:41.180 response of the boy the boy's team and and the boy you know did he ever say sorry did he ever reach

00:09:50.460 out did he ever try and apologize was there ever any communication from I guess the teammates or the

00:09:56.620 boy and you yeah so while I was laying there uh the other team was actually laughing at me they were

00:10:04.480 all like together in a group laughing and if you like keep watching like the rest of the video like

00:10:11.100 a couple of the girls on my team who are also like my cousins so like I guess they know you're like

00:10:16.920 pretty uh serious but they're like walking over there and saying like what are you laughing at like

00:10:22.140 nothing's funny I don't know why y'all laughing and that just like made them laugh even more

00:10:26.760 and uh after the game I was like walking thankfully that's the only game that my parents didn't come to

00:10:34.740 all season uh I thank the lord for that because honestly I don't know like what would have happened

00:10:41.740 but uh I was going to the bus and the coach and like um I think a parent or something came up to me

00:10:50.840 and they were like uh is your nose okay like ask about my nose and I was like well yeah I didn't hit

00:10:57.240 my nose it hit me right in the head and um they just like seemed to not really care about it like

00:11:03.380 they just were trying to brush it off and make it like a non-issue and then the boy specifically

00:11:08.260 hadn't said anything to me until um like right after the first time I spoke out he messaged me

00:11:15.660 on Instagram and he was like I can't it was like something like rude like I think he said I was

00:11:23.000 living rent free and he was living rent free in my head or something like I don't know so not

00:11:29.700 apologizing basically no like you know you can't stop talking about me like yeah making it about him

00:11:37.260 when like I mean in a way it's not really about him like no

00:11:41.920 and this is a boy who even then went on to be recruited for women's college volleyball

00:11:52.100 I don't know what happened there but I know he was being recruited based off of

00:11:56.240 um videos and such that he was posting that I saw um which is asinine really um but you mentioned

00:12:05.620 having your doctor's appointment take us through I guess kind of having talked to you obviously

00:12:11.440 before and knowing some of the background of this you went to a doctor at first down in Georgia

00:12:17.520 right but they weren't willing to see you once they found out how you got your injury is that true 0.97

00:12:26.000 yeah yeah uh um I went to my primary doctor like as soon as I could and then she like immediately

00:12:36.760 referred me to a neurologist and then I went they went through the whole like scans and all that stuff

00:12:43.880 they explained to me what and all was wrong with me and then um they just were so confused on how this

00:12:51.100 happened in a girl's high school volleyball game so then my mom finally was like well it wasn't a girl 1.00

00:12:58.540 that hit her it was a boy so I they like didn't know what to do with that um and then they call back

00:13:06.540 later and they're like she's all good like after they just told me like I wasn't all good and my mom

00:13:14.760 was like what like she was like so upset and asking them like to explain why and they like ended up 0.99

00:13:21.500 just hanging up on her oh my god like it was too controversial like I don't know and so you just had

00:13:28.240 another appointment recently um the effects again having heard you testify in many different states

00:13:35.740 like the effects of what you have gone through and continue to go through um in terms of you know

00:13:43.360 being partially paralyzed um having vision impairment memory impairment you know accommodations for

00:13:49.560 testing at school in high school because it's impossible to retain information in that way

00:13:54.860 when you've suffered a brain injury um what does that kind of look like for you now

00:14:00.600 um and as you move forward in the future uh yeah so school is definitely still a lot harder for me

00:14:08.960 than it used to be um I'm still gonna I'm still having to get help in school unfortunately and uh

00:14:15.740 like last semester it was so hard I didn't know if I would come back but I'm doing a lot better now

00:14:21.500 and I'm trying a lot harder and I'm getting extra help so uh I'm trying in school and then like

00:14:29.340 for my body and stuff my vision is still kind of off um so I like still have to wear my glasses and

00:14:36.420 everything but my body is really what's still um like the worst like it's still in shock from what

00:14:44.140 happened and things just still like aren't the same as they used to be so I'm having to have these

00:14:50.860 doctor appointments like every week and uh it's definitely not um yeah it was almost you know two

00:15:00.560 years ago at this point and I'm a college student who's having to pay like tuition and stuff and now

00:15:07.780 I'm having on top of that doctor's appointments every week wow what do you think of when you see

00:15:14.400 like of course these instances continue to happen um especially after we saw this past week we have

00:15:22.620 democrats who are our leaders and that is certainly an air quote to really try and gaslight

00:15:29.060 the american people um like jerry nadler and they say this this isn't happening or they say something

00:15:35.620 to the effect of you know um you know be compassionate be empathetic what's your response

00:15:41.280 to that um I want them to be compassionate to all the female athletes that are having to suffer

00:15:47.960 because of this issue that isn't that is definitely happening and it's continuing to happen every day like

00:15:54.040 you said I mean we're literally like hearing a new story about it every day and um it's a slap in the

00:16:01.940 face to every female that has had to deal with this I mean the emotional trauma the physical trauma 0.69

00:16:08.400 everything that follows that um it's I don't understand how it's still an issue and for them to like

00:16:17.980 like we can see right through the delusion because obviously what they're saying is lies but it's sad

00:16:25.680 that people like actually believe these people and what they're saying because it's not true and it's

00:16:31.440 obvious because it's shown every day of course and and the thing is like I really do feel like

00:16:37.700 majority of everyday people forget republican democrat like majority of people understand as

00:16:45.680 unfortunately these things continue to happen they understand that our our leaders are lying to us

00:16:51.660 um yeah to the protection of women and girls and olympic and amateur sports act um this week it was

00:16:58.960 introduced by senator tommy tuberville all 51 democrat senators all 51 voted in opposition I mean do you

00:17:08.080 think they believe it do you think they're fearful to step like out of line on this issue of course

00:17:15.580 they are I mean they know I think every single person knows deep down whether they want to admit it or

00:17:21.580 not that this is ridiculous and it's like we're living in the twilight zone because I I know they 0.96

00:17:28.900 even know like this is so weird and so stupid so which is really sad because if you're going to be 0.99

00:17:36.760 voted in such high like such a high position to be our leader then you should be able to have enough 0.99

00:17:42.780 um guts to be able to stand up for what's right I totally agree um if our leaders can't find it

00:17:50.180 within themselves to defend women we need new leaders um but like I mentioned in your intro like

00:17:57.200 you have been an influential part um of course in your home state of North Carolina but really across

00:18:02.780 the nation so um what have you been doing since this happened to you to protect women's sports

00:18:10.720 yeah so I've been traveling a lot more than I had before and you had never been on an airplane

00:18:20.020 so it's definitely been crazy like really out of my comfort zone but uh this is was not in my future

00:18:29.840 plans at all and I think I love what you say all the time that the quickest way for God to laugh in your

00:18:36.520 face and to make your own plans because that is so true um again not in my comfort zone at all but

00:18:44.320 this is what the Lord's plan was for me so I'm just gonna keep pushing through to help as many people as

00:18:50.320 I can for as long as I can and then just kind of see what happens yeah well it's amazing and your

00:18:58.140 sisters and your cousins um and tons of girls across the nation really have you to thank um but in

00:19:04.980 particular to North Carolina actually because I think North Carolina was an important state

00:19:08.600 um one of the more recent ones in getting this bill done um and through have some awesome leaders

00:19:15.840 there who carried this bill and championed this bill um which is amazing um but I wholeheartedly

00:19:21.800 believe that this would not have been done in North Carolina had this not happened to you so while of

00:19:27.000 course what happened to you should have never happened and is unfortunate and should never happen to

00:19:31.560 anyone I really do think it was kind of like this catalyst in getting North Carolina to do the right

00:19:37.520 thing of course ultimately Governor Cooper vetoed the bill um but they were able to override this veto

00:19:43.860 with the majority vote um so I guess last question here is your message to Governor Cooper um I was super

00:19:52.100 excited with the news in North Carolina of who won the Republican primary for Governor um I think Roy Cooper

00:19:59.180 is a spineless morally bankrupt coward um so what's your message specifically to him yeah so um no one was

00:20:11.280 shocked when he vetoed it because again he is a spineless man um but he has daughters so like that's 0.72

00:20:22.080 he's like you he knows that this is wrong and again he just doesn't have enough courage

00:20:28.040 to admit it because he's afraid of upsetting the you know whatever sod right and uh again which is like

00:20:38.800 if you're not gonna have enough um I keep wanting to say some of the stuff if you don't have enough

00:20:46.000 courage to step up for what's right then you shouldn't have a position and I'm very looking

00:20:52.500 forward to for him to be out of the office woohoo me too um you're the best like I said you're fighting

00:21:00.220 for so many uh which is why I know you fight um so it's amazing you're wonderful um and we love you

00:21:07.960 so thank you for love you too you're the best thank you for having me I told you her accent was awesome 0.74

00:21:15.840 I just love listening to her talk uh but like I said Peyton has been incredibly influential she has

00:21:22.020 been someone who has really moved the needle on this topic as more and more girls unfortunately are 1.00

00:21:28.420 becoming injured in their sports suffering uh season ending injuries oftentimes career ending

00:21:34.660 injuries like Peyton's um again a terrible circumstance but Peyton is truly turning lemons

00:21:41.280 into lemonade and for that I thank her I know that your daughters thank her if you're a female athlete 0.90

00:21:47.140 yourself you thank her all of humanity really should be thanking her uh but thank you for tuning in

00:21:52.600 make sure you like and subscribe anywhere where you get your podcasts and we will see you again next week

00:22:04.660 you

Gaines for Girls with Riley Gaines - May 01, 2024

True Impact with Payton McNabb

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