Junior Ballers Team Left at the Sidelines for All-Star Tourney

All they wanted was to play.

And the Diamond Bar Ballers National Junior Basketball team had played well. The team of fifth- and sixth-grade boys was dominant in regional competition and came in second place in area-wide play, which coach William Bryan said automatically qualified the team for one of two all-star nationals tournaments.

But the team sat just a few exits up the 57 freeway as the opening ceremonies for all-star competition kicked off Friday at Cal State Fullerton.

"We had expected to be in the tournament for weeks," Bryan said. "We expected to be in the tournament a month ago."

In a March 24 email, the Ballers were listed as the 10th team in the tournament lineup; however, another chain of emails and calls with NJB staff leading up to the April 8-10 tournament pulled coaches, players, and parents back and forth between joy and confusion that, in the end, left the team wondering what had happened.

The team had registered, confirmed their participation, and had even paid — twice, coach Bryan said. Invitations had been sent to family and friends to mark their calendars. Ultimately, Bryan was told the weekend before the tournament that the team was registered for the wrong competition.

"Whatever the criteria are, we were registered and they said that we were listed with all of the other teams," Bryan said. "They said that we should have played in this tournament and they went round and round about why they asked us to register for the wrong tournament."

Bryan had already gone through the difficult task of facing parents and players regarding this tournament before, after the first time that he was told that the team was not registered for the April 8 contest.

"We told all of the kids that I messed up and we had to issue refunds," Bryan said. "We had all of the money to give everyone back and on the way to the meeting we got an email from NJB saying that we're in the system and that we're registered and that all we needed to do was pay."

Bryan said his wife Cynthia called back to NJB to confirm. They were registered. So, instead of doling out refunds, the team rallied up another $15 per player and prepared to send it to NJB for registration fees that night.

"We started praticing and got extra gym time and got some scrimmages in," Bryan said.

That was shortly before another email would arrive from NJB's director, Dennis Murphy, on Friday, April 1:

We are sorry- but this team cannot play in the Divisional All-Star Tournament.
Our staff did not realize that this teamis a Mikasa team and cannot participate in the All-Star event.
As you know- the All Star Tournament is for the 11-20 players for Grades 6 & 8.
We will process a refund early next week.

Just a week before the tournament, Bryan and parent Duane Hamilton, an attorney, thought of filing an injunction to halt the tournament.

"But this would have stopped everybody from playing and we decided that we're not going to punish another 100 kids," Bryan said.

So, Hamilton issued a letter to Murphy dated April 7, urging action short of litigation to resolve the problem, but said he received no response.

"I just don't see how you tell a whole team of players that they're in a tournament and then tell them that they're not in the tournament," Hamilton said.

On Friday, before opening ceremonies at Titan Gym, NJB Tournament Director David Kingsland said he had no knowledge of the conflict.

"This is the first that I've heard of it," Kingsland said.

Murphy was not available Friday for comment.

Bryan said the desire to take the matter to court has left with the possibility of keeping his team in the tournament.

However, Bryan still feels a sting from being the messenger of bad news.

"The parents and kids had faith in me," Bryan said, "and it takes years of building a positive reputation — to risk losing that is crazy."

In nine years of coaching NJB and through his tenure on the board of the Walnut-Diamond Bar Cowboys football league, Bryan said he has "never had any isssues like this in the past."

"For me, it's all about having the kids play and have fun," Bryan said.

The team is still awaiting a refund, Bryan said, but will look to cut the other losses and focus on the next tournament.

"There's another opportunity for us to get into the All-Net league," Bryan said. "I'm going to call and confirm to make sure we don't go through this experience again."