A superintendent in Massachusetts is calling for change to the state’s rules after a girl’s teeth were knocked out during a field hockey game by a shot from a male player.
The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association allows males and females to participate in the other gender’s sports if it is not made available to their own – thus, a male is able to participate in field hockey, which is generally a sport for females.
The incident took place during a playoff game between Swampscott High School and Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School earlier this week – a girl on the Dighton-Rehoboth team suffered “significant facial and dental injuries” that “required hospitalization” after she took a shot to the face from a male on Swampscott.
A general view of a hockey stick and hockey ball during the Men’s Hockey International match between Ireland v Austria at the Sport Ireland Campus in Dublin. (Brendan Moran/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
Now, Bill Runey, the superintendent of the Dighton-Rehoboth Regional School District, is calling for change to a rule that has been in place since the 1970s.
“While I understand that the MIAA has guidelines in place for co-ed participation under section 43 of their handbook, this incident dramatically magnifies the concerns of many about player safety,”