Girls' team reportedly disqualified at HSNI over misgendering dispute

A girls' high school ultimate team was reportedly disqualified from the 2026 High School National Invite in Salem, Oregon, after a dispute tied to alleged misgendering of a non-binary player on an opposing team. The call immediately pushed the event beyond the scoreboard and into a larger fight over how youth ultimate handles gender identity in real time.

The HSNI field brought 32 of the nation’s best high school teams to Pioneer Sports Park on June 12-13. Ultiworld described the 2026 edition as the eighth annual High School National Invite and the first time the tournament had been held in the Pacific Northwest, giving the event a new geographic stage just as it became a flashpoint for policy enforcement.

That context matters because USA Ultimate’s youth guidelines already draw a clear line: players who identify as non-binary or prefer to self-report their gender identity are eligible to compete in the division where they feel most comfortable and safe. USA Ultimate adopted its Gender Inclusion Policy in November 2020, and that policy says the sport aims to welcome people of all gender identities while avoiding limits on participation for transgender, non-binary and gender nonconforming athletes.

The Girls' Ultimate Movement extends that approach further, saying it is inclusive of youth identifying as female, non-binary, gender fluid, transgender and others. That language has now taken on immediate significance for tournament directors, coaches and players trying to understand how a sideline exchange can escalate into a disqualification, and who has the authority to enforce inclusion rules once a complaint is raised.

The incident has generated significant discussion on social media, where the disqualification has become a test case for how youth ultimate applies its stated values under pressure. For a sport that has built much of its identity around self-officiation, the unanswered questions are procedural as much as cultural: how a call is made, who reviews it, and how closely tournament enforcement matches the language of USA Ultimate’s own policies.