Tensions are high in a Massachusetts school district where a high school field hockey player suffered “significant facial and dental injuries” after being hit in the face by a gunshot from a male opponent, an official said Wednesday.
Bill Runey, Dighton-Rehoboth schools superintendent, appeared on “OutKick The Morning” with Charly Arnolt and described the outrage in the district.
“It’s very hot. The tension is very high,” Runey said. “At first, it was a feeling of trauma. I went to wait for the bus when the girls came back from Swampscott because I wanted to let them know that they had the support of the district.
“That we were going to have resources available for them the next school day with our counseling staff. And the trauma that I saw in their eyes, the sadness that I saw in their eyes and in the eyes of the coaches is something that I will never, ever forget.
“And now, it’s become an outrage over the fact that it doesn’t seem like anyone is willing to listen to change.”
Runey’s comments came after Dighton-Rehoboth field hockey captain Kelsey Bain wrote a letter to the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) urging it to make a change to its rules. She wrote that “the MIAA needs to improve.”
Bain cited a New Boston Post article that said there were 41 children who played on girls’ field hockey teams during the 2019-20 school year. Bain suggested that the MIAA create a new league.
“There is likely more interest, but the stigma of boys playing on a girls’ team is likely a deterrent,” Bain wrote. “I’m sure school districts can institute cooperative teams to create more opportunities for men to play in their own division, which I assume you already know because, according to rule 34 of the MIAA manual, there is a division for boys. Field hockey included in the Fall Sports category.
Dighton-Rehoboth Schools Superintendent Bill Runey described outrage in the district after a high school field hockey player was injured by a gunshot from a male opponent. Swampscott High School
“You have the opportunity to change the negative publicity the MIAA has been receiving due to the incident that occurred Thursday night by moving forward with the proposal for a children’s seven-on-seven league.”
Bain recalled the horror she and her teammates felt when they witnessed the incident.
“The screams and screams of fear and pain that projected from her after she was hit filled the stadium,” Bain wrote.
The looks of horror and shock on the faces of the girls around her were also chilling.
“After the injury, my teammates were sobbing not only out of fear for their teammate but also out of fear of having to return to the field and continue a game, playing against a male athlete who hospitalized one of our own. “This traumatic event sheds light on the rules and regulations of male athletes participating in women’s sports.”
The MIAA cites the Massachusetts Equal Rights Amendment, adopted in 1976, which was expanded to school sports three years later.
The MIAA said it “understands” the safety concerns, but inclusivity has taken precedence over that safety.
“We respect and understand the complexity and concerns that exist regarding student safety. However, student safety has not been a successful defense for excluding students of one gender from participating on opposite-sex teams,” the MIAA said in a statement. “Arguments generally fail due to the lack of correlation between injuries and mixed teams.”
Players reacting on the field after the injury. Swampscott High School
In response to the MIAA statement, Bain wrote that “causation is not addressed.”
“We all witnessed the substantial harm that a man has the ability to cause against a woman during a game,” Bain wrote. “How much longer does the MIAA plan to use girls as statistical data points before they realize that boys don’t belong in girls’ sports? Twenty injured? Hundred? Death?”
Bain added that the rules of high school field hockey were created for girls to play against girls.
“Altering rules and equipment to accommodate the game involving children is not only inconvenient, it also takes a physical and emotional toll on players who are forced to change the game they love,” he added. “By trying to create equality, you are only creating inequalities.
“Use this as an opportunity to take a negative incident and turn it into a positive change.”
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Source: vtt.edu.vn