National Basketball Tournament Bans Kids' Team for Having Female Player

This week, in WTFlandia, a Virginia boys' basketball team was banned from a national tournament for having a female player. The players are all under 11 years old. Kymora Johnson, 10, has been playing on the team since she was 7 and had gone to two tournaments organized by National Travel Basketball Association before. NTBA alleges that they have a rule that national tournaments can't feature mixed-gender teams because reasons. Kymora's parents were unaware of the rule.

 

“This was a very clear-cut situation. The head coach was informed at team check-in that girls are not allowed to play on boys’ teams for our national championship, as we offer the girls a national championship as well,” an NTBA representative said. “Unfortunately, the coach chose to play this girl anyway, and therefore by our rules and policies the team was dismissed from the tournament because he played with an ineligible player.” Despite the situation being "clear-cut," NTBA didn't actually dismiss the team until after they had already won five games. The last team they beat went on to win the NTBA national tournament.

 

Just as a reminder, there is no discernible advantage to having a single girl on a boys' basketball team. Particularly not if that team consists of 10-year-olds. The NTBA has now done a phenomenal job of trying to discourage Kymora from playing the sport she loves. Luckily, her teammates and fans aren't having it. The team has now acquired pink uniforms to support Kymora, and a hashtag has started on social media to bring #EqualityForKymora.