Hoover girls basketball team gets trophy in private ceremony: 'Our team knew the rules,' coach says

[sl8]

https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2023/03/hoover-coach-defends-not-giving-girls-basketball-team-a-trophy-our-team-knew-the-rules.html

Hoover girls basketball team gets trophy in private ceremony: ‘Our team knew the rules,’ coach says

Updated: Mar. 06, 2023, 5:56 p.m. | Published: Mar. 06, 2023, 4:35 p.m.

By Howard Koplowitz | [e-mail]

The girls’ basketball team that did not receive a trophy despite defeating an all-boys’ team in the title game of a Hoover recreational league was not treated unfairly under the league’s rules, their coach said Monday.

Wes Russell coached the fifth-grade girls who won the tournament in the Hoover rec league, where all the other teams were comprised of fifth-grade boys. Russell said in a statement issued by the city of Hoover that the squad were not victims of unfair treatment.

“Social media posts have negatively portrayed the rules and policies of the City of Hoover Parks and Recreation as somehow unfairly treating girls versus boys,” Russell said.

However, in a private ceremony on Monday “received a trophy and commemorative coin” from Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato.

[...]

[Biophilic]

1. Maybe, but the rules are wrong!!

[jimfields33]

2. Then change them before the game.

[underpants]

3. Good for them. Rules or not.

I had a championship season in Rec league that’s worthy of a movie. Oh yeah I hit the winning shot. This was crazy racial. 1980.

Even at the NBA level basketball can be won with one great player.

[Probatim]

4. Way to stand up for your team Coach - helluva a good role model you are for them.

(Sarcasm thingy)

[twodogsbarking]

5. They should name their team "The Hillarys".

[firefly007]

6. Read the entire article before commenting

The girls were an elite team (not part of the rec dept) who were required to play in the rec dept tourney to guarantee their rights to use the gyms.

[link:https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2023/03/hoover-coach-defends-not-giving-girls-basketball-team-a-trophy-our-team-knew-the-rules.html

The girls, who according to Mashayekh’s post have been teammates for three years representing Spain Park in a competitive girls’ basketball league, were required to enter the Hoover fifth-grade boys’ rec league if they wanted to keep utilizing Hoover City Schools gyms for their practices.

Russell said the girls understood the requirements, which included not being eligible for the championship trophy if they won the league.

“The City of Hoover has allowed our team to utilize and practice in municipal gyms, just as they have done in my 12+ years of coaching in both the Hoover girls and boys leagues. Our team knew the rules of the Hoover Rec league prior to the tournament, and we still chose to have our team compete in this boys tournament,” he said.

“I have coached boys and girls flag football, and boys and girls basketball all under the umbrella of the City of Hoover leagues. In my 12+ years of coaching, boys and girls have always been given equal treatment.”

In a nutshell, an over-sensitive mom caused a needless kerfuffle because we are all being brainwashed to perceive everything as an attack and then react without due diligence.