This Kid in Arizona Who Was Told He Can't Play Boys Basketball Because of an Error on His Birth Certificate Has The Opportunity to Do The Funniest Thing Ever
WILX – An eighth-grade boy from Arizona was removed from his high school’s boys basketball tryouts and told he can only play on the girls team because of a clerical error on his birth certificate.
But the multi-talented athlete was excluded from high school basketball tryouts last Tuesday because of a clerical error on his original birth certificate. His mother, Becky, says there was a mix-up at the hospital the day he was born.
“I give them the birth certificate, and they’re like, ‘Did you know this says female?’” he said. “I was like, ‘Oh, man, that’s so funny.’ So, we come home. Everyone’s laughing.”
Over the years, the fact that his birth certificate mistakenly listed him as female hasn’t caused many issues – until he decided to try out for the boys basketball team.
“From my friends, I heard they were talking about it for the entire tryout and even the next day’s tryouts because they were really confused,” he said.
First off, Arizona, I feel like you've got this whole thing backwards. For the history of time, boys have not been allowed to compete in girl's sports. Clearly that whole concept has taken a fun new twist in recent years. But obviously, the "no boys in girl's sports" rule makes sense. It would be an unfair advantage. See critically acclaimed basketball movie, 'Juwanna Mann'.
But I thought girls have always been allowed to play on the boy's team if they were good enough. Right?I know it happens. Especially at smaller schools. I know for a fact I've seen it in high school wrestling. I know it happens in hockey. About once a year, my high school hockey team would play some terrible school who could barely field two full lines worth of players, and sometimes they'd have a girl playing for them. She usually wasn't their worst player either. To be fair, the worst player would typically be some kid who clearly just learned to skate earlier that year (some high school hockey teams are just preposterously bad). We also had a girl who played on my high school golf team. She was arguably our best golfer. Hit from the blue tees and everything. She went on to play college golf at Michigan State. I believe at one point she was the #3 ranked women's golfer in the NCAA.
My point is, it's not an advantage for a boy's team to have a gir playing for theml. I always thought if the girl's parents were willing the sign the waivers, and she could legitimately crack the roster, that it was fair game.
Except in the case of Cheryl Miller, which remains one of the funnier sports stories ever.
Sports History Network – Her skill with the basketball was incredible. She was a prodigy in the true sense of the word. She had skills beyond her years. She tried out for the school team when she was 12 years old. But the school did not have a girls team. They only had a boys team. So she signed up to play on the boy’s team.
The coach would not hear of it. A girl playing on a boy’s team? It would be an embarrassment. At least that is the way the coach thought. So, Cheryl made him a deal. She offered to play the team’s best play, who also happened to be the coach’s son. If Cheryl could beat him in one-on-one then she could be on the team. If not, then she would walk away and never bother the coach again.So, the coach sets up the game between his son, the star of the team, and Cheryl. She beat the coach’s son 21-1. And the coach still would not let her join the team.
Imagine the ass-whooping that dad gave his son when they got home that day. I bet that relationship never recovered.
But that's all aside the point. I'm afraid this 8th grader is looking at his situation all wrong. Because his high school didn't simply tell him that he's not allowed to play on the boys team until he undergoes expensive chromosomal testing to prove his birth gender. They went the extra step of throwing this little caveat in there
WILX – The Queen Creek Unified School District said in a statement it wants to ensure “fairness, integrity, and equal opportunity” when it comes to athletics. Because the student's birth certificate lists him as female, he has been told he has to play on either the coed or girls basketball team.
I mean… he has no choice but to take advantage of that, right? People would go through extensive body-altering surgery for such a privilege. What an incredible opportunity. This kid could shatter records. He could go down as the greatest girl's basketball player in Arizona State High School history. If you're this kid, and your school is going to die on this hill, he gotta turn this ordeal into one big game of chicken. See how far you can take it. How long can you dominate girl's basketball before the administration realizes they have a WAY bigger problem on their hands than if they had just let you tryout for the boy's team from the jump.
Had they done that, there was no added risk of injury. Nobody was getting an unfair advantage. But now they've gone and created one. Depending on how good the kid is (and how much he grows), if Queen Creek ends up with a 6-foot-5 forward bullying girls around the paint, and putting his shoulder through the chests of 5-foot-1, 115-pound point guard's as he drives to the rim… Once again, I refer you to Grammy Award Winning Sports Film, 'Juwanna Mann'.
At a certain point, the school is going to be forced to admit defeat before they get themselves sued.
Or maybe the person at Queen Creek Unified School District who's putting their foot down on this decision is simply a massive girl's basketball fan. Maybe Queen Creek has a talented group of 7th & 8th graders, and believe they're just one boy away from making a legitimate run at states in a few years. God I hope this kid sees it through. What a wild ride that would be. Because when life gives you lemons… you become the greatest girl's basketball player the state of Arizona has ever seen.