{"id":6025,"date":"2017-02-15T16:09:27","date_gmt":"2017-02-15T22:09:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=6025"},"modified":"2017-02-15T16:09:27","modified_gmt":"2017-02-15T22:09:27","slug":"story-heroic-5th-grade-basketball-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/02\/story-heroic-5th-grade-basketball-team.html","title":{"rendered":"More to the story: a “heroic” 5th grade basketball team?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File%3ABasketball_gateway_to_youth_mentoring_program_130222-M-ZB219-151.jpg;<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s Tribune (originally from the Washington Post): \u00a0\u201cFifth-grade Catholic youth team forfeits season rather than kick girls off<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The story:<\/p>\n

For several years, a Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) basketball team in New Jersey had included a pair of girls. But recently the squad, now in the fifth grade, was presented with a difficult choice: Drop the girls, per the archdiocese\u2019s rules, or forfeit the season.<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s decision was unanimous. It was also courageous and inspiring.<\/p>\n

Before a game Friday against a squad from another parish, the youngsters from St. John the Apostle decided to forgo their final two games, plus the postseason, rather than play without two longtime teammates. \u201cIt\u2019s not fair that we get to move on but they can\u2019t,\u201d one of the boys said afterward.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What\u2019s missing from this celebration of the wisdom of children, in standing up for equality and fair play?<\/p>\n

The school in question offers a girls\u2019 basketball team, and the two girls in question were not kicked out of basketball-playing, but moved over to the girls\u2019 team. \u00a0See this local report<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The two girls, who were allowed to play with the boys by mistake, have been placed on girls teams at the school, and the boys team is continuing its season in the playoffs, said Jim Goodness, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Newark that oversees the school.<\/p>\n

. . . the two girls at St. John the Apostle in Clark had played on a co-ed team last year, and the school athletic director took the same players for the fifth grade team this season.<\/p>\n

The mistake was not discovered until last weekend when Richard Donovan, director of CYO athletics for the archdiocese, saw the fifth-grade team playing a game. Donovan notified the athletic director.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here\u2019s the school\u2019s website<\/a>: \u00a0boys\u2019 and girls\u2019 basketball for grades 2 \u2013 8.<\/p>\n

So why didn\u2019t these girls play on the girls\u2019 basketball team? \u00a0It\u2019s not clear. \u00a0It\u2019s hard to imagine that they didn\u2019t know about the girls\u2019 team. \u00a0Did they or their parents decide that the boys\u2019 team was better for them, that it would develop their skills more, that the girls\u2019 team was inferior, because they were better players than the other girls? \u00a0That\u2019s a mean-spirited assumption, but the only one I can come up with.<\/p>\n

And if that\u2019s the case, if the families rejected the girls\u2019 teams, there are no heroes here.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Image: \u00a0no, not these particular children. \u00a0A generic youth basketball game, from Wikimedia Commons. https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File%3ABasketball_gateway_to_youth_mentoring_program_130222-M-ZB219-151.jpg; By Cpl. Paul Peterson (https:\/\/www.dvidshub.net\/image\/875178) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In today\u2019s Tribune (originally from the Washington Post): \u00a0\u201cFifth-grade Catholic youth team forfeits season rather than kick girls off.\u201d The story: For several years, a Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) basketball team in New Jersey had included a pair of girls. But recently the squad, now in the fifth grade, was presented with a difficult choice: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":6026,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[232],"class_list":["post-6025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-catholic-schools"],"yoast_head":"\nMore to the story: a "heroic" 5th grade basketball team?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In today's Tribune (originally from the Washington Post): \u00a0"Fifth-grade Catholic youth team forfeits season rather than kick girls off." 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