Basketball Team Punished for Breast Cancer Awareness Uniforms
Joining the fight against breast cancer is a wonderful gesture. Except in this case.
The girls basketball team at Narbonne High School, in Harbor City, Calif, has been kicked out of the playoffs after the players wore uniforms to raise breast cancer awareness.
The team swapped the white-and-green uniforms they traditionally wear to pink and white in an effort to promote the fight against the disease.
The problem? Narbonne never got formal permission to wear the alternate uniforms.
As a result, the Gauchos' 57-52 win last week over View Park last weekend was reversed, with Narbonne now losing by forfeit. Narbonne had been scheduled to play in the city championship. The team has also been banned from the state playoffs, meaning the team's season is over.
Narbonne wore the pink uniforms during its first-round playoff game and no one said a word. Coach Victoria Sanders is distraught over the punishment:
Everybody’s baffled, it just doesn’t make sense. If you’re going to punish someone, punish me. I’ll take it. Tell me I can’t coach the game, but don’t take it away from the girls.”
Ironically, this is the second consecutive year Narbonne has been disqualified from the postseason. Last season, the team was caught accidentally playing an ineligible player.
So, what do you think? Was banning the team the right thing to do or was it uncalled for?