Changing the Game

The documentary Changing the Game (2019) was co-written and directed by Michael Barnett.

The movie stars Mack Beggs, Sarah Rose Huckman, and Andraya Yearwood. All three of them are transgender high-school athletes with enormous talent.

As expected, these young men and women face opposition from officials and parents of the athletes against whom they compete. The film shows us how they confront this additional burden, and deal with it in successful ways.

It's not easy. One athlete takes testosterone to achieve physical gender change. Of course, testosterone is a banned substance for athletes. He's not taking it to win at sports--it's part of his medical regimen. That's an inherently difficult situation.

This movie hasn't achieved wide distribution. My vote is only the 14th vote, and I'm the first person to review if for IMDb. I hope that distributors will pick up on this movie. Obviously, it will work at LGBT festivals, but I think it will also work well for general audiences.

We say this film in The Little Theatre, as part of the excellent ImageOut Rochester LGBT Film Festival. It will work well on the small screen. This is a movie that will make you think. I recommend it.

It does not even pretend to be unbiased. This movie presents only one side of the narrative for the majority of the movie. There are bits of the opposite argument, but never does it give them proper time nor does it answer any of the arguments presented.

Other than that there were no science-based explanations and nothing new is presented in this documentary. So, It wasn't very informative.

3 stars only cause the movie was shot well and it humanises the trans athletes and try to give a glimpse into their lives.

When I started to see this film, I did not know that it was a documentary, nor that its theme was discrimination against transgender people, I found myself seeing a problem that I was unaware of, and it made me think about all that we still need to learn, understand and to improve as human beings. I would like films like this to be presented in public schools in all countries in order to educate the future of the world, because I consider that like all cinematographic work its objective should be to transmit something: an emotion, an idea or a problem and Changing The Game achieves it. At least I feel that I have grown as a person.

As an avid watcher of documentaries, I found this one very well made and educational.

It was hard to watch, but powerful, the highlight on adults being promoters of hate and being bullies to kids, confirming that for many adults kids sports are not about the wellness of the kids, it's about feeding their own ego and thirst for winning

The fact that sports could make the difference between a kid attempting to kill themselves or live a healthy life should be enough argument to support transgender kids in sports. Instead of fighting for who should win a game or a match, it might be better to find common ground for these kids' sake.

This powerful documentary focuses on transgender children who are simply trying to live their lives as their genuine selves. All come from different family structures, and all are blessed with families who love and support them. Some of the most powerful moments in the film for me was learning about the journey their parents/guardians followed to reach a point of support and understanding, always grounded in unconditional love.

The film also unflinchingly presents the corrosive and destructive impact of the hate, fear, and misinformation these children have to navigate simply trying to compete in a sport. Regardless of your own personal views on transgender participation in sports, I'd hope we can all agree that screaming at children, misgendering children, telling them they are flawed or sick or should commit suicide is simply horrible and wrong.

Perhaps a little more context would have made this even more compelling and impactful. One could come away from the film thinking transgender kids are taking over sports, which is far from the case. For instance, some 3.4 million girls participate in high school sports in the United States. The number of openly transgender girls competing in high school sports is a tiny fraction of that, likely in the dozens nationwide--and those who are consistently winning is a fraction of that fraction. Girls sports are not at risk from transgender athletes. But as this film powerfully shows, transgender children who try to play sports as themselves, are targeted and at risk.