After a player on a Massachusetts high school girls' field hockey team was seriously injured by a male opponent last fall, the team will have to withdraw from next week's game against a male opponent for safety reasons.
The Dighton-Rehoboth High School team has canceled its game next Tuesday against a Somerset Berkeley team that includes the boys' players. WJAR-TV reported.
“When you add men to a traditionally female sport, the risk of injury severity is much higher.”
Blaze News readers, Viral Video A Swampscott High School boy is seen taking a powerful shot at the Dighton-Rehoboth goal during a playoff game on Nov. 2, 2023.
However, the ball struck a Dighton-Rehoboth player hard in the face and bounced far from the point of impact. The injured player dropped to her knees and screamed, as did her teammates. Some came to her aid, then turned away, and the game was stopped while the injured female player was treated. She was released from the hospital the next day, but Dighton-Rehoboth coach Bill Rooney said she suffered “significant facial and dental damage.” The Sun Chronicle reported..
In an interview with WJAR earlier this season, Rooney said the decision to forfeit next week's game “may impact our chances of making the playoffs, but sometimes you have to choose safety over winning.”
The decision to forfeit is the first time the district has adopted a new athletic policy passed this year that allows players and coaches to opt out of or withdraw from a game if the opposing team fields a player of the opposite sex, the department said.
When asked what she would say to those who believe the new policy is unfair, Luney told WJAR that critics “are not aware of the safety concerns we have. When you mix men into a traditionally women's sport, the risk of injury severity is much higher.”
Massachusetts academic rules allow boys to play sports with girls and vice versa if the sport doesn't have a boys' team. In fact, Lunney told the station, adding that the district's new policy could apply even if a boys' team is scheduled to play against a team with female players.
He told WJAR that another field hockey game scheduled for October will also be forfeited. The department said it reached out to the Somerset-Berkeley School District but did not receive a response.
You can watch the video report here Regarding the decision to forfeit the match.
Anything else?
The Swampscott man who injured a Dighton-Rehoboth player in last season's playoffs scored a goal shortly after the game resumed. In fact, he both The goal gave Swampscott a 2-0 victory, eliminating Dighton-Rehoboth from the tournament.
Swampscott male athletes Reportedly He was a Northeastern Conference All-Star and served as a four-year varsity player and team co-captain. WCVB-TV reported.He quoted Swampscott Public Schools athletic director Kelly Wolf as saying.
During the controversy last year, teammates of the injured player wrote a letter of protest to the state High School Athletic Association.
“We have all witnessed the damage men can inflict on women during the game,” Kelsey Bain, then a team captain at Dighton-Rehoboth, wrote in the letter. “How long will the MIAA continue to use girls as statistics before they realize that boys do not belong in girls' sports?”
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