10-And-Under Basketball Team Disqualified for Girl Team Member (ICYMI)

The preconception that there’s no place for girls in boys sports has begun to fade in recent years, from Mo’ne Davis’ super-charged fastball at last year’s Little League World Series to Becky Hammon winning an NBA summer league title in her first year as a men’s head coach.

But in the case of one youth basketball team in Virginia, having a girl on its roster meant disqualification from a national tournament in Myrtle Beach, S.C., on the eve of the championship game.

The Charlottesville Cavaliers, a 10-and-under travel basketball team, were unaware the National Travel Basketball Association (NTBA) had changed its policy to disallow girls from boys’ national tournaments, the Charlottesville Daily Progress reported. The tournaments had never barred female athletes in the past, and the Cavs had entered co-ed teams multiple times before.

The Cavaliers — including 10-year-old Kymora Johnson, the team’s only female player — proceeded through the registration process in Myrtle Beach without a hiccup. They presented birth certificates, filed all the proper paperwork, and were never told keeping Johnson on the roster was any sort of violation.

Five wins later, as the Cavs prepped for the tournament’s title game, the NTBA stepped in. The Daily Progress reported NTBA president John Whitley cited the oversight to Johnson’s limited time on the floor throughout the tournament.

“We have no problem with the girls sitting on the bench,” Whitley told the Daily Progress. “We don’t care who sits on the bench with the teams.”

The Washington Post reported Johnson pleaded with tournament officials to solely disqualify her and not her entire team, but because another entire team had received the boot earlier in the tournament, precedent had already been set.

According to the Post, Johnson began playing with the Cavaliers at the age of 5 due to the lack of a girls’ team for that age range.

Cavaliers head coach Joe Mallory told the Daily Progress he is considering legal action against the NTBA. In addition to being disqualified, the team was not reimbursed for registration fees at the tournament or any hotel or other travel expenses.