Alabama girls basketball team wins 5th grade boys' league but runners-up given championship trophy
HOOVER, ALABAMA: An Alabama fifth-grade girls' basketball team, which was forced to join a boys' league, has been denied their championship after they defeated all their male opponents. Spain Park girls' team, from Hoover, Alabama, were reportedly informed at the start of the season that they would not be able to train at the local gym facilities if they do not join the boy's league.
They were thus forced to join and in response, they even went on to win the championship. However, this took an abrupt turn when they were told that the trophy would instead be handed over to the runners-up they'd just beaten in the final.
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'Because they are Girls'
"So proud of Rylie and her basketball team. It was a hard lesson they learned tonight. They won the 5th-grade boys rec league championship but were not given the trophy," Jayme Mashayekh, the mother of one of the players, explained in a post on Facebook. "These girls have played together for 3 years for a competitive girl's league representing Spain Park. All are 5th graders in the Hoover school system. Halfway through their season they were told they could not use the Hoover gyms for their practices unless they paid to play in the Hoover rec league."
The post continued, "They were told to stay together as a team they had to play up a level in competition and play the 5th grade boys. The girls were middle of the pack throughout the season losing several close games by 1 point. Playing the boys was a challenge they rose to meet. It made them better players and a better team. They were told before the championship that they could play in it, but if they won they wouldn't be allowed to have the trophy. 'Excuse me? What? What did they do to get disqualified? Did they not pay their dues? Did they not play up a level in competition? Oh, it's because they're GIRLS?!?!'"
City of Hoover wants to make things right
Spain Park is listed as the basketball league champion on the Hoover Parks and Recreation Department website, having beaten a 'Knicks' team in the final. Mashayekh later revealed that "the City of Hoover and the Hoover Rec Center have reached out to make things right for the girls" in an update to her Facebook post. It is not known if the team has received the trophy or not, but she added, "Thank you for all your support and hopefully this will be a step in the right direction for more/better access to facilities and opportunities for our females athletes."