In Massachusetts, a high school girls’ field hockey match left one girl seriously injured, including the loss of teeth, following a play by a male player on the all girls’ team.
A Massachusetts high school student-athlete had her teeth knocked out and suffered “significant facial” injuries when an opposing male player shot a field hockey ball at her face during a playoff game on Thursday.The horrific accident happened during a playoff match between Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School and Swampscott High School.The male player, who attends Swampscott, is seen winding back his stick to take a shot on the net but drills the opposing female defender directly in the face.A loud ‘thud’ is heard seconds before the girl drops to the ground, screaming in agonizing pain.Players on the field were visibly distraught over the injury as Dighton-Rehoboth staff rushed from the sidelines to administer aid to the injured player.
She’s not wrong. This madness has to stop before a girl or woman is killed.
The New York Post continues:
“Last night, a female field hockey player for the Dighton Rehoboth Regional High School girls’ field hockey team sustained significant facial and dental injuries when she was struck in the face by a shot in the third quarter versus Swampscott in an MIAA state playoff contest,” Dighton Rehoboth’s Superintendent Bill Runey wrote in a letter obtained by WCVB.“This injury required hospitalization. The player, her family, teammates, and coaches remain in my prayers.”The female athlete lost two teeth and her condition is unclear, according to the outlet.. . . . Following the on-field horror, Runey is calling for a change in the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) rules that have been in place since the 1970s.. . . . MIAA states in its handbook that “no student shall be denied in any implied or explicit manner the opportunity to participate in any interscholastic activity because of gender.”Schools could deny a student to play a sport based on gender if the school “offers a girls’ team and a boys’ team” for the same sport, the association writes in its rules.But in cases where there is a “single team in a particular sport,” schools must allow a student to join “to ensure that the school’s gendered designation of athletic opportunities complies with Title IX.”“For any male athlete that’s participating in a female sport, there are zero restrictions. So I’m looking for the MIAA to facilitate some conversations to have some middle ground in terms of player safety,” Runey told the outlet.He writes that he understands MIAA’s rules but believes they should be reviewed for players’ safety in co-ed competition.“Seeing the horror in the eyes of our players and coaches upon greeting their bus last night is evidence to me that there has to be a renewed approach by the MIAA to protect the safety of our athletes,” Runey stated in his letter.
There seems to be some confusion in terminology, as many reports are calling this a co-ed sports issue, but it’s clearly an all-girl team except the one guy on the girls’ field hockey team. Apparently, there is no boys’ field hockey team so this guy plays with the girls. With disastrous results.
“In our [Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA)] Tournament field hockey game Thursday, a player on the visiting team suffered an unfortunate injury on a legal play after being struck by a shot that deflected off her teammate’s stick. We are sorry to see any player get hurt and wish the Dighton-Rehoboth player a speedy recovery,” Swampscott High School Athletic Director Kelly Wolff told Newsweek. “The Swampscott player who took the shot is a 4-year varsity player and co-captain who, per MIAA rules, has the exact same right to participate as any player on any team.”Newsweek could not verify that the athlete is a male who identifies as a female.. . . . In a statement to Newsweek, a spokesperson for the MIAA further cited the organization’s handbook for rules allowing the specific student to compete on a girl’s team and said, “Massachusetts General Law was originally enacted to protect students from discrimination based on sex, and later expanded to protect students based on gender identification.””We respect and understand the complexity and concerns that exist regarding student safety. However, student safety has not been a successful defense to excluding students of one gender from participating on teams of the opposite gender. The arguments generally fail due to the lack of correlation between injuries and mixed-gender teams,” the spokesperson told Newsweek.
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