“This is unbelievable. We just wanted her to play basketball.”

"Just wanted"?? Oh, no. You went way beyond "just wanted". You sued the school and the Archdiocese and when you lost you filed an appeal.

I guess no settlement money or publicity in that.

We just wanted her to play basketball.”

No, you just wanted her to play basketball on the middle school boy's basketball team.

If you just wanted her to play basketball, she could go to a local park or to a school that has a girls basketball team.

She does not have an enforceable right to attend this private school.

The Phillips family learned of the shocking decision at a training facility for the WNBA’s New York Liberty, where Sydney had been invited to watch the professional women’s team practice.

It was only shocking because they failed to observe Allen's Axiom: When all else fails, read the instructions.

As for the school, let us assume the star of the boy's team is a budding man-child reminiscent of LeBron James, and he comes down with an elbow on the snowflake's head or shoulder, causing physical pain, physical damage, and emotional distress. There would be another lawsuit. How much would the school need to pay for added insurance for voluntarily permitting a 12-year old girl to play among the trees?

http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2017/01/judge_wont_order_catholic_school_to_let_girl_play.html

Christopher Westrick, an attorney for the Archdiocese and the school, said the school had offered to let Sydney play for a girls team at a neighboring school, but the parents wanted her to play at St. Theresa's.

The school said that the parents missed the deadline for filing their daughter's application to play on the girls team. Also, school officials said that in late October there were not enough girls who applied for the team, so it was dropped.

Scott Phillips countered that parents were never given a deadline for submitting applications to join the team, and that in past years the girls team had been organized in late November, just before the season started.

http://nypost.com/2017/01/05/school-can-legally-stop-girl-from-playing-on-boys-basketball-team/

There are only 17 kids in her grade att St. Theresa’s, she said.

http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2017/01/judge_wont_order_catholic_school_to_let_girl_play.html

mike91163pt2
Jan 6, 2017

2 things I noted in this story:

---it's quite a shock that the ruling judge (Kessler) actually went against another judge's wishes...yes, Ms. [Theresa E. Mullen, Sydney Phillips' mother, is a Superior Court judge in Union County. Given how the legal community looks out for each other, this is quite a pleasant surprise...

---but then there's this idiocy from the parents' lawyer: "McCrea said there were just six games left in the season for the boys team. She repeatedly told the judge that the team had not been successful in recent seasons and that Sydney Phillips could help the team."

First, if there's only 6 games left, what difference would it make?

Second, why are they so obsessed with winning at a 7th grade level? At that age, shouldn't it be about having fun and learning how to play?

"Instead of sueing the school & the Archdiocese, why didn't they try to organize a girls basketball team ? If that was my daughter, that's what I would have done."

My guess is that most girls in that school aren't interested. Now, if she was attending a public school, Title IX could be used to force the school to establish a girl's basketball team.

The downside to that is that if they couldn't get enough girls interested, the school would be forced to eliminate the boy's basketball team to maintain parity.

The solution? Pull her out of Catholic school and enroll her in public school (no, not as a teacher). She'd get a shitty education, but she'd be able to play and be an "aspiring WNBA star".

"Second, why are they so obsessed with winning at a 7th grade level?"

Winning? Have they started keeping score again? How do the little snowflakes cope with losing? Has the suicide rate increased?