Hoop dreams: Father sues to get daughter on top-tier B.C. basketball team

A father in Langley, B.C., is suing the organization that runs high school sports in the province in an effort to get his daughter playing on a top-level championship B.C. basketball team.

In a notice of civil claim recently filed in B.C. Supreme Court, Daniel Jonathan Custodio argues his daughter, Lyric Custodio, should be allowed to play for Brookswood Secondary School where she's currently enrolled. 

Lyric, a Grade 11 student and one of the top players in the province, had been playing for McMath Secondary in Richmond, where the family had lived for three years before moving to Surrey. McMath Secondary was defeated by Brookswood in last year's AAA Championships.

Last spring, the family moved from Surrey to the Brookswood Secondary School catchment area in Langley "due to their concerns about the increasing level of violent crime in the Newton area," according to the claim's statement of facts.

The statement claims the family decided on Langley because rents were affordable, both parents could find work there, and Brookswood offered a top-tier basketball program.

But the statement of facts specify the move was not specifically to make Lyric eligible for the basketball program at Brookswood — that would be against eligibility rules for B.C. School Sports (BCSS).

The claim states the family was then evicted from their new home in Langley shortly after they moved in to make room for the landlord's father.

So the family moved within Langley but to a street that was no longer within the catchment area for Brookswood.

When Brookswood filed the paperwork on behalf of the family so Lyric could join the team, it was denied — as was its appeal of that decision. 

The family says the decision will impact Lyric's basketball career because she won't be visible to scouts as she sits out the season, and the family can't afford for her to attend post-secondary school without a scholarship or tuition waiver. 

The family also claims the decision has negatively impacted her attitude and mental state.

Protecting teams' competitive balance

BCSS eligibility rules specify that students transferring to another high school can't play the same sport at the new school for 12 months.

A BCSS pamphlet on the subject explains the rules are in place "to protect the competitive balance inherent between schools' existing student populations."

There are, however, some exceptions including moving due to financial hardship, academic reasons or other special circumstances.

The rules also state if the family moves to a new school district, the student can enrol at any school there.

However, according to the court documents, BCSS denied Brookswood's first exemption request because Lyric had moved within Langley out of the school's catchment area. 

And when the school appealed the decision, BCSS cited its rule that students can't play for a team if the family moves to the catchment area to play on a specific team — whether there are bona fide reasons for the move or not.

"We feel that we followed our process and we will continue to apply the rules that our membership has voted on," said Jordan Abney, executive director for BCSS.

'It's been going on forever'

Former high school basketball champion and current basketball trainer Pasha Bains didn't want to speak specifically about this case, but said the BCSS rules exist because parents' eagerness to include their kids on the best sports teams has been a long-standing issue. 

"It's been going on forever in high school sports where kids move to a magnet school and try to uproot their life for a better basketball program," he said.

"What usually happens in these kinds of cases is another rival high school makes a complaint."

Bains points out that the basketball team at McMath may have come in second place last year, but its star players were seniors — leaving the team with a roster of younger players.

The Province's pre-season high school rankings don't even include McMath in the top 10 for this season. 

As for her future prospects, if Lyric doesn't make the Brookswood team, Bains said it's not a total write-off because she also plays with a separate club for elite players her age that plays year-round, B.C. Elite. 

"She will lose some but it's not the end of the world if she's not allowed to play," he said.

"Basketball is a year-round sport now, and these kids get scouted more in the summertime in these big ... events so she won't miss out in the scouting as much." 

The judge has ordered B.C. Sports to review the case and to allow Lyric to compete on the Brookswood team until the matter is resolved or the school year ends.

CBC News contacted the family, but they declined to comment while the matter is before the courts.

With files from Karin Larsen