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Dozens of New York City high school basketball teams are slated to forfeit their first game of the season after league officials stepped up enforcement of a clerical rule this year – and some coaches are crying foul.
The city’s Public Schools Athletic League, or PSAL, has long required teams to upload their rosters to the league’s website before the start of the season or risk forfeiting their first game. But in the past, the precise deadlines varied from sport to sport, and enforcement was sparse, coaches and athletic directors said.
But for this year’s basketball season, officials required rosters to be posted by this past Monday – a week before the first game – and took a zero-tolerance approach to enforcement. As a result, some 72 varsity and junior varsity basketball teams – 46 girls and 26 boys teams – are currently starting the season 0-1, according to data posted on the PSAL website. That represents about 10% of teams, according to the Education Department.
In response to outreach from Chalkbeat, an Education Department spokesperson said the PSAL is working to reinstate the first game for roughly half the penalized teams who quickly uploaded their rosters after the deadline, provided they meet other deadlines. It wasn’t immediately clear which teams would be eligible for that reversal.
Multiple coaches and athletic directors told Chalkbeat the sudden tightening of enforcement feels arbitrary and overly punitive – and it will end up harming kids.
“Schools have a lot of moving pieces going on … an arbitrary deadline they [PSAL] decided on this year out of nowhere without any sort of leniency seems like it’s punishing the kids and not teaching anyone anything,” said David Garcia-Rosen, the dean and athletic director at Urban Assembly Bronx Academy of Letters, whose boys basketball team missed the deadline and is slated to forfeit its first game.
Education Department spokesperson Jenna Lyle said the roster deadlines are there to “protect our players.” They ensure students participate in a minimum number of practices before playing in a game and are covered by insurance, the spokesperson said.
Officials emphasized that the league communicated the deadline to schools and teams on 10 occasions, including virtual and in-person meetings, emails, and Google Classroom messages.
“We are grateful to the vast majority of teams who uploaded their rosters by the deadline, and we are working with those who quickly remedied the missed deadline to reinstate their first game,” said Lyle.
The tightened enforcement of the roster deadline comes after a cheating scandal involving ineligible players rocked PSAL boys’ basketball last year, leading to the cancellation of a championship game and a sharp rebuke from former Chancellor David Banks, who vowed to clean up the league. Education Department officials declined to say whether the enforcement had anything to do with that situation.
Several coaches and athletic directors noted that it can be difficult to finalize rosters on time.
Some coaches have to wait until late in the fall when school gyms are free and players are done with fall sports to hold tryouts for basketball teams. Schools also have to secure physical exams, parental permission, and ensure students are eligible to play, all of which means rosters can be in flux until right up to the deadline, coaches said.
“You work so hard and your kids work so hard” to get ready for the season, said Ron Naclerio, the coach of the boys basketball team at Benjamin Cardozo High School in Queens, and the winningest coach in PSAL history. “To start off in last place … it’s totally demoralizing.”
Other coaches struggled as the PSAL shifted more communication over to Google Classroom, said Glenn Thomas, the boys basketball coach at Franklin Delano Roosevelt High School in Brooklyn, whose team also missed the deadline.
The forfeits also affect coaches, who stand to lose four hours worth of pay from the games they would have played, according to the PSAL’s policy.
“A lot of people are relying on that money,” said Reggie Holder, the coach of the varsity boys basketball team at Pathways College Preparatory High School in Queens, who missed the deadline.
Alison Gendar, a spokesperson for the United Federation of Teachers, said the union “is in talks with the PSAL to smooth out the process and make sure it matches what is done in their other sports programs.”
Garcia-Rosen begged for the PSAL to reconsider after explaining that his school’s basketball coach was off the week leading up to the deadline and that Garcia-Rosen uploaded the roster a day late, but was rebuffed by the PSAL, according to emails shared with Chalkbeat.
“I believe it is important to use this moment in time as a teachable life moment for [student athletes],” wrote Lee Church, PSAL sports coordinator, in a Tuesday email obtained by Chalkbeat. “It provides the adults an opportunity to have evidence-based, transparent dialogue around meeting deadlines and being preparation [sic] that leads up to such deadline.”
Garcia-Rosen said he takes responsibility for missing the deadline, but said it doesn’t make sense “to sacrifice these kids’ opportunity to play so some adults can be taught some lessons on meeting deadlines.”
The sting of the forfeit was even worse because many schools, including Garcia-Rosen’s, have struggled to consistently field teams in the wake of the pandemic. “We should be doing everything we can to get kids on the court,” he said.
Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.
