SOCCER MOM SUES...
when kid gets boot
A St. Louis mom is making a federal case over the fact that her son didn’t make the high-school soccer team.
The unnamed woman, whose son is a junior at Ladue Horton Watkins High School — located in the most affluent section of the city — filed a lawsuit in federal court this week, claiming the coach’s decision discriminates against her child.
The boy, called John Doe in the Wednesday filing at the US District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, played on the junior varsity team last year, and the suit claims he’s good enough to do so again.
“[John] was right on the bubble of making the team this year and has some impressive attributes,” soccer coach Dave Aronberg told the family in an e-mail, court papers show. “However, there were a few holes in his game including technical ability and game decision-making that put him behind a number of kids.”
The school said players who don’t make varsity cannot go back to JV, in order to allow younger students a chance to develop their skills.
In courtroom testimony, the coach said seven juniors cut from varsity weren’t good enough to play JV ball.
But the family claims both age and sex discrimination are at play, because those rules don’t apply to girls teams. “Female juniors get to play on the female junior varsity team, but male juniors don’t get to play on the male junior varsity,” said the family’s lawyer, who asked not to be named.
The junior varsity squad only has 18 active players, rather than the usual 25, the lawyer noted. So even if John Doe doesn’t get to start, he should be allowed on the team — because there is plenty of room, he told The Post. “This was devastating to this kid. All he cares about is soccer.”
The family appealed to the school’s athletic director, and then to the superintendent, but both backed Aronberg, who could not immediately be reached for comment.
John Doe’s lawyer offered player performance ratings from other coaches that show that his client is better than some of the boys who made varsity, ranking 19th of the 36 players who tried out.
The judge will announce his decision Monday.