A 5th Grade Coed Basketball Team "Unbelievably" Chose To Forfeit Their Season Instead Of Kicking Off The Girls

FTW- “Is your decision to play the game without the two young ladies on the team, or do you want to stay as a team as you have all year?” asked parent Matthew Dohn. “Show of hands for play as a team?”

Eleven hands shot up in unison. No one raised a hand when asked the alternative.

Assistant coach Keisha Martel, who is also the mom of one of the girls, Kayla Martel, reminded the team of the consequences. They had been told that playing the girls in any game would mean the rest of the season would be forfeited.

“But if the girls play, this will be the end of your season. You won’t play in the playoffs,” she warned.

“It doesn’t matter,” one boy replied and others echoed, before the team began to chant, “Unity!”

In the crowd, supporters cheered along. Several parents began to cry.



Would you believe it?  A UNANIMOUS VOTE! Not only did a bunch of 5th graders collectively give up their chance at a championship in favor of equal rights, but they didn't even need to be told to do so! I suppose the fact that they were given #unitygames shirts and had a television camera pointed at them while their female teammates and coaches were present for the voting may have given them a slight nudge in the right direction, but good on the one or two kids that really wanted to win that trophy for suppressing their desire due to peer pressure. They may have been strong-armed into making the correct choice by a wealth of external factors that provided an audience so easily readable that even the dyslexic shooting guard could sound it out, but they didn't need to be verbally implored to avoid being social misfits and that makes all the difference! Nothing brings light to sexist rules set forth by some wack-a-doo Catholic church league like some good all fashioned forced groupthink amongst middle schoolers! What we just witnessed was essentially the same kind of thought process that inevitably encourages the innocent kid on the block to smoke pot for the first time, but we can ignore that because it was an inclusive show of support instead of the normalization of recreational drug use. 

In all seriousness, the tears were about as melodramatic as Beyonce turning the Grammy's into an overblown nativity scene, but this particular organization should be commended for standing up against the institution of legislation that would make Susan B. Anthony roll over in her grave. I understand the idea behind separating boys and girls once puberty starts to kick in, but any youth league that goes full 'He-Man Woman-Hater's Club' deserves to have shame brought upon them for leaving their rulebook untouched since the 60's. It makes perfect sense that people who use a literary piece that was transcribed before the existence of publishing companies as a word-for-word guide to life in 2017 would do so, but this video is more of a "fuck you" to them for being absolute morons that are incapable of rational thought than it is an awe-inspiring, prideful parenting moment.