Unity within a New Jersey youth basketball team

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Sam Slattery, Staff Writer

A youth basketball team decided to end their season early after being told the two female players could not finish the season with them. The Catholic Youth Organization league notified St. John’s in Clark, New Jersey that they should never have had a coed team. They were then told the two fifth grade girl weren’t allowed to finish out the season. The team was also required to forfeit their record.

The Catholic Youth Organization said that their rule state the teams must be all boys or all girls. The athletic director from St. John also admitted his mistake in letting it happen. However in the rule book, under JV black league division it does not specifically specify if the team can or cannot be coed. In other divisions this rule is present.

The team was coed for the past four years, due to lack of interest for girls basketball. There was not enough girls their age group to have a team.

The Coach was asked to make the final decision on whether the team would play. Parents urged him to make a decision, but he chose to let the youth team vote. Unanimously they voted not to take the court without their female teammates. They will end their season early.  

The team called for unity, even wear shirts with the slogan “unitygames” printed on them. After the vote, the team went for pizza to celebrate their decision. The parents of the players were very proud of their players, on saying that the kids  were “doing the right thing. We don’t have to tell them what to do. They just know”.