Credit/MGBA The official logo for the Mixed Gender Basketball Association, which will kick off its inaugural season in July. The first-of-its-kind league will include men and women playing on the same team. Forget about man-to-man defense.
A radical new semipro basketball league, which will allow men and women to play alongside each other as teammates, is coming to town.
The fledgling Mixed Gender Basketball Association is holding tryouts on Sunday in Harlem, seeking to fill up rosters for its inaugural season, which is slated to kick off in July.
“This is an opportunity to be a part of basketball history,” said Heather Swart, the Florida-based league’s New York Director.
The organizers hope to suit up teams from around the country, including the five boroughs.
One of the first New York teams could be based uptown.
“We have a potential owner that’s looking to have a team right in Harlem,” Swart said. “The talent that we saw was really amazing.”
All levels of basketball players — from streetball to former college players — are urged to try out, she said. The only requirement is that players must be at least 18.
MGBA Men and women will play on the same team in the new Mixed Gender Basketball Association, which will kick off its inaugural season in July. “It’s really open to everybody,” she said. “We’re really looking for chemistry on the court.”
The minimum salary for players will be $ 20,000.
Each league contest will tip off with three men and two women per side, but the number of men and women on the court will alternate in each quarter.
The league will also institute a four-point field goal when women sink a shot from behind the three-point line. If a woman is fouled in the act of shooting, it has the potential to be a five-point play and could become a decisive factor in a close game. There will be no four-point shot for men.
“We believe that starting this league during the summer or fall will serve as a bridge between the end of the WNBA and beginning of the NBA seasons, and a symbolic evolution away from separate single-gender basketball,” said John Howard Jr., the president and co-founder.
Howard, a former Harlem Globetrotter who played college ball at the University of Cincinnati, says he just wanted to give men and women a chance to play together on the hardwood.
Tryouts will be held at the Lt. Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Memorial Center, 34 W. 134th St. on Sunday from 4 to 8 p.m. For information and to register, visit www.mgbainc.com.
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