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The coach of a\u00a0Vermont basketball team\u00a0that forfeited a game against a transgender player has spoken out after the state banned the team from competing in future tournaments.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got four daughters. I\u2019ve coached them all at one point in their careers playing high school basketball. I\u2019ve also filled in for the boy\u2019s coach when he can\u2019t make a practice, and I run those practices, and boys just play at a different speed, a different force\u2026 than the girls play,\u201d\u00a0Chris Goodwin, who coaches at Mid-Vermont Christian School.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a different game,\u201d he continued, adding that it would be \u201cirresponsible\u201d and \u201casking for an injury\u201d to a smaller female player.<\/p>\n
Goodwin\u2019s team forfeited a game against the team with the transgender player in February 2023, and the Vermont Principals\u2019 Association (VPA) then banned them\u00a0from future tournaments.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMid-Vermont Christian School has every right to teach its beliefs to its own students. It cannot, however, impose those beliefs on students from other public and private schools; deny students from other schools the opportunity to play; or hurt students from other schools because of who those students are,\u201d the VPA said in November 2023.<\/p>\n
Goodwin said that at the time the team decided that it was in their best interest to forfeit the game rather than going through with competing against a transgender invidual. <\/p>\n
\u201cAfter discussions with the administration and our players and parents, we decided that instead of going\u00a0against our religious beliefs\u00a0that there are differences between male and female, we are created differently, we decided to forfeit that game and withdraw from the tournament,\u201d Goodwin said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd at that point, the state of Vermont governing body kicked us out of all athletic competitions in the state.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n