SEXUALITY
ONE OF THE BOYS In Amsterdam Tiffany Abreu feels 100 percent like a woman. But at her volleyball club, US Amsterdam, she is the most valuable attacker on the men’s team. Meet a sportswoman who is shifting the boundaries.
BY MANÔU ABREU TRANSLATION THORBJØRN SVENDSEN/RACHEL PAYNE Brazilian born Tiffany Abreu is the star of Amsterdam volleyball team ‘US Heren 1’. Before February 2015 she was known as Rodrigo. As a volleyball player, Rodrigo travelled the world, playing in Brazil, Spain, Portugal, Indonesia, France and Belgium. When he arrived in the Netherlands, his powerful attacking style quickly propelled him to the second-highest level, the ‘Topdivisie’. Over the course of his career, Rodrigo’s homosexuality was widely accepted by his respective volleyball clubs, as long as he didn’t make it obvious. Having a life outside of sport, which for him involved going out and partying late into the night, was no longer possible. “As long as I wasn’t prancing around and squealing when I arrived at the court, I could be whoever I wanted to be. But the strict confines of elite sport still do not
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allow for lavish lifestyles, so without that kind of freedom I felt alone. Who would want to have a relationship with a travelling, homosexual volleyball player? Besides that, I wasn’t even sure that was who I really was.” Rodrigo resigned himself to playing volleyball at an amateur level. He felt pigeonholed into a category in which he didn’t fit. He wanted to find out what he could do to be happier, so he called a friend for some advice. His friend put him in contact with a volleyball club in Amersfoort in the Netherlands. While Amersfoort gave him a warm and friendly reception, it had no nightlife, so a switch to a club in Amsterdam was quickly arranged. FREE TO WALK DOWN THE STREET “I have never been so openly and warmly received as I have here in the Netherlands.
The beauty of the Dutch is that they immediately welcome you into their hearts. Regardless of whether you’re fat, skinny, beautiful or ugly, you’ll have a chance of getting a job as long as you work hard.” The transsexual athlete noticed that much more emphasis was placed on appearance in the southern European countries than in the Netherlands. “Here in Amsterdam I can walk down the street however I like. That wasn’t the case in Spain, Portugal or even Brazil. There it doesn’t matter how smart or capable you are; if your eyes aren’t the right colour, you won’t get a job.” The transition from having the physical characteristics of a man to having those of a woman is also better regulated in the Netherlands than in Rodrigo’s, now Tiffany’s, homeland. But it is a slow and complex process.