When 13-year-old Fischer Wells testified against Kentuckys trans sports ban in February, supporters of the bill wouldnt look her in the eye as she spoke. They were covering their faces and looking at their notepads, looking around the room and checking the ceiling for any cracks, Wells told HuffPost. I felt like I was the most intimidating thing in the world.

Looking back, Wells said its because she wasnt what proponents of Senate Bill 83 expected. At the time of her testimony, Wells was the only trans student in Kentucky competing in school sports. She thinks lawmakers were anticipating a timid student who would shyly plead with government leaders to let her play sports, but thats not the kind of kid she is. Wells is intelligent, self-possessed and not afraid to admit she has the largest ego in the room, as she said with a laugh. She showed up to the Senate legislative committee hearing that day in a bright pink pea coat zipped all the way up, her short hair frizzy and wild, and told lawmakers the bill was disgusting.

Wells played field hockey on the girls team at her Louisville middle school, which she admits wasnt exactly a team to be feared on the field. She helped restart the schools field hockey program last year, working with other students to sign up enough classmates to qualify as a team, but they didnt win a single game. Their best outing as a group was their final match, which ended in a tie.

None of the students or their parents ever complained about Wells playing on the girls team, and yet she wont be playing field hockey this year. Republican lawmakers in Kentucky forced through SB 83, which bans trans female athletes from girls sports from sixth grade through college, over the veto of Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear. The law went into effect in July, and thus far Wells is the only student affected by it. Last year, she was the only known trans athlete playing sports in the entire state.

Jennifer Alonzo, Wells mother, said it has been difficult to see her daughter kept from doing something she loves. The family recently saw the other members of the field hockey team at an award ceremony, and Alonzo said that one of her daughters former coaches told her, Were sure going to miss Fischer next year. She wanted to respond, Not nearly as much as Fischer is going to miss you all.

They get to go forward doing the thing that they started with, which is to become a team, Alonzo said. That team is not going to include Fischer. Everybody else is going to continue their life, but Fischer is not.