All Gender Division
The strong, supportive and inclusive community has always been a wonderful trait that has drawn many of us to the sport of ninja. The sport has always been about athletes supporting each other wholeheartedly as they take on different obstacles.
The Northeast Ninja Association is proud to announce an enhanced opportunity for people to compete within our league.
Through discussions with the organization Queer Ninjas Unite, it was brought to the league's attention that individuals within the community had chosen not to compete because they did not want to designate themselves into either binary male or female divisions. Within the same part of the community, some elected to choose a division but remained uncomfortable feeling the choices didn't fit them. Through these discussions a new division was created to provide an opportunity for not just these individuals striving for inclusion in a sport we all love but for any individual to compete in an all-gender division.
Starting in the 2022-2023 season, NENA will now offer a third gender division in our 15+ tiered league: "All Gender". This will run along side the existing gender divisions of Male and Female.
The new "All Gender" division will have the same age groups to Male, Female divisions: 15-24, 25-39, 40+
The "All Gender" division creates some new opportunities for NENA participants:
For the 2022-2023 season, once you have chosen a gender division after completing a Tier 1 you will be locked into that for the season. We at NENA understand that the possibility an athlete would like to make the appropriate move will arise and we welcome that! We are working to make everyone feel comfortable and included in our league.
The league asks for understanding and patience from all our athletes as we adjust, educate, and evolve to include these changes. We are pleased to take the leading steps in offering the ninja community a variety of options to compete!
Any questions can be directed to the NENA president Dave ([email protected]) who will continue to work with Queer Ninjas Unite to offer all appropriate answers to again help educate everyone in and outside of our league.
The Northeast Ninja Association is proud to announce an enhanced opportunity for people to compete within our league.
Through discussions with the organization Queer Ninjas Unite, it was brought to the league's attention that individuals within the community had chosen not to compete because they did not want to designate themselves into either binary male or female divisions. Within the same part of the community, some elected to choose a division but remained uncomfortable feeling the choices didn't fit them. Through these discussions a new division was created to provide an opportunity for not just these individuals striving for inclusion in a sport we all love but for any individual to compete in an all-gender division.
Starting in the 2022-2023 season, NENA will now offer a third gender division in our 15+ tiered league: "All Gender". This will run along side the existing gender divisions of Male and Female.
The new "All Gender" division will have the same age groups to Male, Female divisions: 15-24, 25-39, 40+
The "All Gender" division creates some new opportunities for NENA participants:
- The division provides an opportunity to compete for any non-binary or other individuals who may not feel that male or female division define them appropriately.
- The division also creates an opportunity for any individuals to choose to compete against each other, regardless of their gender. Over the years we have heard of numerous examples where individuals of all genders who train together would like to take on the same course, competing directly against each other. As our youth league has always done and promoted all gender competition, this new division allows our 15+/ adults to opt-in to that competitive opportunity!
For the 2022-2023 season, once you have chosen a gender division after completing a Tier 1 you will be locked into that for the season. We at NENA understand that the possibility an athlete would like to make the appropriate move will arise and we welcome that! We are working to make everyone feel comfortable and included in our league.
The league asks for understanding and patience from all our athletes as we adjust, educate, and evolve to include these changes. We are pleased to take the leading steps in offering the ninja community a variety of options to compete!
Any questions can be directed to the NENA president Dave ([email protected]) who will continue to work with Queer Ninjas Unite to offer all appropriate answers to again help educate everyone in and outside of our league.