A ballot measure around participation in school sports has loomed large in election debates this year. Yet local health providers and therapists say they’ve heard remarkably little around the benefits of athletics for young students overall and the potential psychological harm of being excluded.

Initiative 638, one of the three state measures Washington voters are considering before Election Day on Tuesday, would ban transgender girls from girls K-12 sports, and require that all student athletes have their assigned sex at birth confirmed by a healthcare professional . While proponents of the initiative say they want to protect fair competition for cisgender girls in sports, some doctors and health providers express concerns about excluding trans girls from girls teams in the process.

“Athletics are a great arena for people to learn about cooperation, sportsmanship, dedication, and putting short-term effort toward long-term goals,” said Dr.…