basketball
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A girls high school basketball team in Vermont withdrew from the state's playoff tournament last Tuesday because it refused to play against a team that had a biological male on its roster.

Valley News reported that the No. 12 seed Mid Vermont Christian School girls basketball team forfeited their game against No. 5 seed Long Trail because the team did not believe it was fair to play against a transgender athlete.

"We believe playing against an opponent with a biological male jeopardizes the fairness of the game and the safety of our players," MVCS head of school Vicky Fogg said in a statement. "Allowing biological males to participate in women's sports sets a bad precedent for the future of women's sports in general."

Lauren Thomas, an assistant executive director for the Vermont Principals' Association, confirmed to the local publication that the school had withdrawn from the tournament.

"I have received calls (from schools) asking for best practices and how to go forward knowing they were going to play a team with a transgender female on it," Thomas said. "We just supported our stance and our best practices through our inclusivity statement."

The school launched in September 1987 with its mission to "glorify God by preparing students for college and for life through a program of academic excellence established in Biblical truth."

The school says that despite its small size, its "sports teams have excelled wonderfully in the region with many winning seasons" and that it "continues to provide an academic program that significantly outperforms its public school counterparts in the state (based on SAT testing)."