Thursday, April 26, 2012
I don't think this is discrimination. If so, it would be discriminating against his skills, not his gender. I think this would eve be an issue if the boy was a terrible player. Also, if it is discriminating against his skills, could this not set a precedent to boot a dominate skilled girl? If so, Michael Jordan would have gotten kicked out of the NBA.
However, I do see a double standard. There are cases after cases of girls being allowed to tryout/play on boys teams usually b/c there is no girls team available. Well, the case is the same for this boy and field hockey.
I personally don't think boys and girls should be playing together in such organized sports teams.
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Boy field hockey star kicked off girls' team for being 'too good'
Published April 26, 2012
SOUTHAMPTON, NY – A 13-year-old Long Island boy who has been the star of a local high school girls' field hockey team for the past two years has been kicked off the team for being too dominant of a player, MyFoxNY reports.
Keeling Pilaro was told he could no longer play for Southampton High School's varsity girls' field hockey team this year after becoming the team's star over the past two years.
Section 11, which oversees Suffolk County's high school sports, determined that as a boy, Keeling had too significant an advantage over the other players.
"(Keeling is) having a significant adverse effect on some of his opposing female players," Section 11 claimed according to MyFoxNY. "The rules state he would be allowed to play if he wasn't the dominant player."
Section 11's executive director, Ed Cinelli, told MyFoxNY, "As a sport, it's a girls sport. When a boy plays, it leads the way for other male players to come in and take over."
Keeling learned to play field hockey while in Ireland, where it is also a men's sport. At 4 feet, 8 inches tall and 82 pounds, he says he does not feel he is at an advantage, or that he is even significantly better than his opponents. He says some of the girls he has played against are faster and stronger than he is. "I do hope they let me play," he told MyFoxNY. "I really like these girls -- they are my family."
Keeling and his parents have already lost his initial appeal, but they will plead their case again in May.
