The series is launching exclusively on Instagram and TikTok and follows Lexi who, after a year of being benched by bureaucracy and backlash, is again fighting for her chance to play in the NBL1.

It was early 2023. Lexi was just days from debuting with Kilsyth Cobras, before a single tweet triggered a wave of anti-trans public scrutiny, forcing Basketball Australia to reject her eligibility. Lexi was targeted, silenced, and excluded – but rather than let the rejection define her, Lexi rose. . . Becoming even more determined to continue training, advocating, and submitting medical reviews.

'HOOPS', directed and written by Hannah McElhinney and produced by Eliza Bone, reveals the human story behind one of the most politicised stories in sport today, told through a series of short-form episodes.

Here, we sat down with Lexi to discuss 'HOOPS', her journey, and what comes next.

@transathletica.series EPISODE 1: LEXI ???? Visit the page for Episode 2! Featuring: Tracey Holmes Lexi Rodgers Principal production fundingfrom @screenaustralia © @snack__drawer Pty Ltd #transgender #wnbl #womensbasketball #transwomen #wnba #womensbasketball #womenssport ♬ original sound - HOOPS

First and foremost, tell us a bit about ‘HOOPS’.
'HOOPS' is a docuseries that follows my journey as a transgender athlete attempting to play professional basketball during 2023 and 2024. After I was denied eligibility to play in 2023’s NBL1 season and having faced quite an overwhelming onslaught of online attention for trying, Hannah McElhinney and Eliza Bone approached me with the idea of documenting my story towards playing the next year. 'HOOPS' picks up at the start of 2024, ready to follow that journey of finding a team, obtaining eligibility, and ultimately playing the sport I love most.

This is a documentary series exclusive to Instagram and TikTok. Why does ‘HOOPS’ belong there?
'HOOPS' belongs on both platforms as a kind of counter to the highly charged debates that often take place on social media when it comes to transgender athletes. The series is a fresh source on the topic that contrasts to the negative and hypothetical-obsessed content that often grabs attention. I think that creates an opportunity for a more measured and informed dialogue. Considering one of the focuses is showing people the human side and personal cost of such a situation, it made sense to make that element more visible in contrast to the misinformation that currently circulates on those platforms.

What was it like to work with the folks at Snack Drawer on this series, and what did you find the most challenging and – on the flip side – rewarding, about the process?
Snack Drawer, especially Hannah and Eliza, have been a real pleasure to work with throughout the whole process. They have always been mindful of how sensitive and personal a lot of the moments we captured were, while understanding the importance of the message those moments could have for an audience. I think the most challenging parts were making myself available and maintaining openness with the documentary process while my mental health deteriorated. There were really depressive times where I couldn’t get out of bed, suffered from severe dread or paranoia, and often just broke down at the hopeless and lonely feelings that came out of my experience in 2024. Thankfully, those darkest moments didn’t end up being included, but keeping faith with the story unfolding around them felt impossible at times. On the lighter side of things, being able to showcase and talk through a lot of the key moments throughout the year often helped me feel like I had a voice. I was being heard by Hannah and Eliza when I felt silenced and abandoned by others.

@transathletica.series EPISODE 2: LEXI ???? Visit the page for Episode 3! Featuring: Lexi Rodgers Principal production funding from @screenaustralia © @snack__drawer Pty Ltd #transgender #womensbasketball #wnba #transwomen #wnbl #transwomenarewomen #womenssports #womenssport ♬ original sound - HOOPS

Tell us about your relationship with basketball. Where did your love for it originate and what does being on the court mean to you?
My first basketball game would have been when I was about five years old, with my mum coaching my brother's after-school team. I was three years younger than everyone else and rather comically cried almost every game, but I always kept coming back for more. Growing up my family was sports obsessed so when I enjoyed basketball from such a young age, and then started playing more serious basketball, they were very enthusiastic and supportive of it. As a teenager, that love and passion maintained itself always. I’d be lying if I said the intersections of puberty, young-manhood, gender dysphoria, shame, and masculinity didn’t complicate that relationship, at least in an interpersonal sense. On the court itself though, I always felt very at home, and very free; there is an addictive element to improving and succeeding as an athlete, especially when all the unseen work pays off. When I returned to basketball in 2022, all that passion and love flowed back immediately. I found it deeply empowering but after everything that has happened in the years since, complicated is probably the word I’d use to describe it again.

What do you want people to understand about your story after watching ‘HOOPS’?
From the very beginning, I’ve hoped that 'HOOPS' would help people understand the real-world impact these circumstances have on an individual. I am incredibly lucky and grateful for the support I received during those dark times as a consequence of being a transgender athlete, and I don’t want to see anyone in the future end up in that headspace or environment. Clubs, coaches, players, officials, the media, and spectators could use the insight 'HOOPS' provides into the reality of a transgender athlete’s experience, even if that is just to inform treating those individuals with more respect and integrity.

And in particular, why is it important for people to understand the realities of being a trans athlete in Australia right now?
I feel like a lot of matters regarding transgender people have become increasingly volatile over the last few years. In my experience, the reality of one of those matters, that being a transgender athlete, is that the impact it is purported to have is simply far greater than the actual impact it has. I guess what I’m trying to say is that the conversation around transgender women in women’s sport has consumed the real-world experience of what women’s sport looks like with transgender women. Not many people can say they watched me play basketball at the level, and yet there is this sense that anybody concerned has an informed opinion on the impact it had. I’m not currently playing, and that certainly isn’t an attempt to self-advocate returning, I just think it exhibits why we need to turn the emotional dial way down if, and when, other athletes emerge.

@transathletica.series EPISODE 3: LEAKED ???? Visit the page for Episode 4! Featuring: @annelimaley Lexi Rodgers Principal production funding from @screenaustralia © @snack__drawer ♬ original sound - HOOPS

After what happened online and consequently with Basketball Australia, in what and/or whom did you find the strength to remain determined and continue your advocacy?
Honestly, the motivation and drive to keep working on the off-court matters all came from how incredibly fulfilling I found the on-court experience. In my year at Kilsyth, every single training, drill, scrimmage, even sitting on the bench with the team for the games, was such a rewarding experience. I never took any opportunity to share the court with my teammates for granted, and in return I found every shot and possession to be worth the struggle. Even after that season, when I was alone on the court most days, knowing that I was getting better and working towards that moment I was allowed play again was all the fuel I needed. There were so many times that I would finish my workouts at the stadium and be empowered to get home and work on the administrative side of it all, because I’d feel what was at stake if I didn’t.

What is one major thing you’ve learned about yourself throughout the experience you had, if anything?
I had often seen myself as a bit of a pessimist or a cynic prior to the whole experience, but after years of the training, the drafting, the waiting, the setbacks, and the getting back up or moving on immediately to fight for myself, I’ve found that I am actually a very hopeful person. Hit after hit on my short career, I would feel the hurt but also an undying glimmer that everything I was working for (both on the court and off) was going to end with that dream I’d always had. For so long, and through so much, that glimmer and the feeling I had when I simply played the game, justified a lot of the hardship. Even now, pursuing my dreams is something I don’t think I’ll ever unlearn, that sense of hope and drive is just focused on a different passion now.

If you could write the next chapter of your story. . . What would it look like?
Funnily enough, I think it looks like writing another chapter of a story. . . I have a background in literature and writing, so I have spent some years honing that craft and finding my voice as a creative and a writer. I’d love to keep working on that practice and presenting all kinds of stories and experiences to people using that medium. A lifelong dream of mine would be to publish a book one day, so I’m quite happy to put my head down and keep working towards that with the projects I’m currently focused on. Hopefully that can involve a bit of travel too, I find exploring other cultures and parts of the world deeply fulfilling and rewarding.

The first part of episodes of 'HOOPS' is live now on Instagram and TikTok. Part two drops on 11 September.