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Arts & Entertainment

Meet the Basketdolls, a trans basketball league that started in NYC

By

Stephanie Keith

Published Oct 3, 2024

Modified Oct 3, 2024

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People play basketball outside at a park in Brooklyn.

Photo by Stephanie Keith for Gothamist

By

Stephanie Keith

Published Oct 3, 2024

Modified Oct 3, 2024

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About a hundred people gathered in a Bushwick park on Saturday — not for an experimental art show, but for a sporting event.

Despite the downpour, athletes darted around a basketball court in Thomas Boyland Park, sweeping away the water so it would be dry enough for the Basketdolls.

Photo by Stephanie Keith for Gothamist

The Basketdolls is the brainchild of Devin Myers, 23, who created her own basketball league for trans people in Bushwick in June.

“I wanted to create Basketdolls as a space for trans people to connect and create community with each other through sports,” Myers said.

Players from the Basketdolls hail from all over the country — California, Georgia and New Jersey. Many of them moved to New York in search of a more inclusive society.

Devin Myers, the director of the Basketdolls, is originally from Tampa Bay, Florida. Myers “wanted to create Basketdolls as a space for trans people to connect and create community with each other through sports.”

Photo by Stephanie Keith for Gothamist

Photo by Stephanie Keith for Gothamist

The Basketdolls carved their own space despite the growing chorus of voices across the country protesting trans people’s participation in sports.

Myers said the league is less formal than other sports leagues.

“I categorize us more as a community space than as a formal league,” said Myers. She added that teams were often organized around factors like a player’s ability, weekly availability, or the neighborhood where they lived.

“Sports locker rooms can be heavily masculine in a negative way, so a lot of trans people will just end up not playing sports or just thinking that it’s not for them,” said Nora Rodriguez, an organizer of the Basketdolls. “We’re showing trans people that there is a space for them in sports.”

Photo by Stephanie Keith for Gothamist

Their regular season kicked off June 1 and concluded in September after 15 meets at courts across the city.

On Saturday, they held an all-star — or rather a “Doll-star” — game to raise money to rent time at an indoor gym so that they could continue training throughout the winter months.

Two teams of 13 — team AJ, dressed in pink; and Team Nora, dressed in blue — faced off.

Photo by Stephanie Keith for Gothamist

Photo by Stephanie Keith for Gothamist

Paris L’Hommie is a member of the Basketdolls and has been playing basketball since seventh grade. “I love experiencing things with people,” said L’Hommie.

Photo by Stephanie Keith for Gothamist

The teams were named for their captains: AJ, who’d been awarded the MVP of the “Doll for All” summer tournament, and Nora, who’d been named best defensive player.

The mood was energetic and exuberant.

Photo by Stephanie Keith for Gothamist

Members of the Basketdolls congratulate each other at the end of the game with roses.

Photo by Stephanie Keith for Gothamist

Photo by Stephanie Keith for Gothamist

“It’s great competition and fun,” said Natalia Catalan, dressed in blue. “This is the best thing ever."

Teammate Frankie Grail agreed.

“You get to really feel like a special sports player, but like, only for trans people,” said Grail. “It does feel like legitimately being a little celebrity, and I’m a ham, so I love that."

In the end, Team Nora won. The players gave each other roses.

“We didn’t win the game, but won,” said AJ, the captain of the pink team.

Tagged

LGBTQ

new york city

sports

Stephanie Keith

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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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