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Mom says daughter's team cut was based on gender
Photo courtesy of Tami Kimball -- Anna Kimball was cut from her Allen Sports Association U7 baseball team last week. The girl's mother says a phone conversation with her coach revealed the cut was because she is a girl.
By Conner Hammett, chammett@acnpapers.com
Seven-year-old Anna Kimball played with her 6-year-old brother, Carson, for the Allen Sports Association's U7 baseball team for two seasons before she was cut from the team.
The mother of both children, Tami Kimball, says the coach made no bones about why when he broke the news to her via telephone Thursday: she's a girl.
"They decided they want to have a more competitive team, and they were going to move the team in a different direction," she said, "and that meant they were no longer going to have girls on the team."
"I had to look at my little girl on Friday afternoon and say, 'I'm sorry to tell you this, but because you're a girl, you cannot play on this team on anymore,'" she said.
The coach, who wished to remain anonymous since he is a volunteer, denied telling Kimball the cut was due to Anna's gender, though a KDFW Channel 4 report said he told the station the team will soon be moving to a different league where girls do not play on boys' teams.
The coach also said her younger brother was cut at the same time and the cuts were based solely on the young players' level of ability.
"It's nothing about her daughter," he said. "It's about the core players moving on and being more competitive."
Kimball, however, said Carson's cut is news to her and balks at the idea of a team consisting of 6- and 7-year-old players needing to cut players to get a winning edge.
"They're learning to be team players and to be a part of a team and learn a sport," she said. "What do you think this does for kids who are told 'You're not good enough?'"
The coach, however, said separating young players by ability is often in the interest of safety.
"The kids start getting hurt when one player starts throwing the ball harder than the child has the ability to catch the ball," he said. "You're starting to have that and then it starts becoming a liability and a safety thing."
In a written statement to the Allen American, ASA executive director Ken Geest said the organization "does not condone in any form and strongly denies all allegations of discrimination made against it."
"Baseball is one of the sports in the association that allows the coaches to form their own teams, and for those that are not selected to play on a coach-formed team there is a draft process in place to assure all players are placed on a team," the statement read.
Anna has since been offered a place on a different team and Kimball has been offered a refund. But Kimball says that doesn't solve the core issue.
"If your daughter was kicked off a team because she's a girl, a team she's played for two seasons, would you put her on a different team?" she said.
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