A girls high school basketball team forfeited a recent game after three players were injured, including one who was allegedly hurt during a play involving a 6-foot male player on the other team who identifies as female.
The Collegiate Charter School of Lowell in Massachusetts forfeited its Feb. 8 game against the KIPP Academy at halftime, with coach Kevin Ortins deciding to end the game as his roster was getting depleted four days before a playoff game, the school said.
Fox News reported the KIPP Academy girls team has a male player with facial hair on its roster who identifies as female, and local Massachusetts outlet the Daily Item, which also reported the team has a male player, said “KIPP officials refused to confirm the player’s gender identification.”
The player has received death threats that resulted in KIPP’s Friday game against Lynn Tech getting cancelled, according to the Daily Item.
InsideLowell posted a video on YouTube of the play which allegedly involves the KIPP player in question wrestling for the basketball against a Collegiate player, who goes down to the ground in pain, holding her back and having trouble getting up.
Kyle Pelczar, Collegiate’s athletics director, told the Daily Item the KIPP player didn’t have anything to do with the decision to forfeit; the two teams previously played each other on Dec. 12, a 36-29 KIPP win.
“No, and coach [Ortins] knew going into the game, already, because we had them at home the first game of the year and nothing happened then, so he knew going into the game,” Pelczar told the outlet.
Collegiate said in a statement that its remaining healthy players “feared getting injured and not being able to compete in the playoffs.” The statement also said the school “reiterates its values of both inclusivity and safety for all students.”
When asked by The Daily Item, KIPP Academy athletic director Anthony Grimaldi declined to say whether the school believes the male player who identifies as female was the reason Collegiate forfeited.
“KIPP does not wish to make a comment at this time as to why the other team forfeited the game. We are looking forward to our next game,” Grimaldi said.
Section 43.3.1 of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association handbook states that “a student shall not be excluded from participation on a gender-specific sports team that is consistent with the student’s bona fide gender identity.”
Section 43.3.2 says a student can’t be included on a roster “solely for the purpose of gaining an unfair advantage.”