Second Circuit Victory: Athletic Association That Banned Girls’ Basketball Team for Refusing to Play Against a Boy Acted with Hostility

The coach of a girls’ basketball team at Mid Vermont Christian School does not want to risk the safety of his players.

The team forfeited the first round of a state-sponsored tournament after they realized they’d have to compete against a team with a boy on it.

The coach, Chris Goodwin, said on Fox news that he coached all four of his daughters at one point and filled in coaching boys’ basketball team practices. He knows the physical danger. Goodwin said boys just play “at a different speed, a different force…it’s a different game.”

For refusing to play against a boy, the Vermont Principals’ Association (VPA) blocked the school from participating in VPA-sponsored competitions. The school sued the VPA, the school board, and other parties and asked a lower court for a temporary injunction.

The court denied the motion, and the school asked an appeals court to hear the case. Alliance Defending Freedom announced on Tuesday that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled in the school’s favor. The VPA must allow Mid Vermont Christian School to compete.

The court said that the school likely would succeed on the merits and that the VPA “acted with hostility toward Mid Vermont’s religious beliefs.” The organization “doubled down on that hostility by challenging the legitimacy of the school’s religious beliefs. And as noted above, the punishment imposed was unprecedented, overbroad, and procedurally irregular.”

The adults running the VPA don’t care about fair competition and safety for girls, and they don’t appreciate that the girls and their coach complained about it.

“The government cannot punish religious schools—and the families they serve—by permanently kicking them out of state-sponsored sports simply because the state disagrees with their religious beliefs,” said David Cortman, ADF senior counsel.

Cortman added that the VPA denied the school a public benefit for over two years because it upheld the scientific fact that males and females are different.

“The 2nd Circuit was right to uphold constitutional protections by guaranteeing the school can fully participate while still adhering to its religious beliefs.”

VICTORY in Mid Vermont Christian School v. Saunders today!

Read more: https://t.co/tWIDKtFa4O pic.twitter.com/DOrIbHfUTA

— Alliance Defending Freedom (@ADFLegal) September 9, 2025

Photo credit: Alliance Defending Freedom