MIAA panel wouldn’t ban boys from the sport
Previous attempts to exclude boys from girls teams have been shot down in court
There may not have been any actual sport-specific rules proposals for the MIAA Field Hockey Committee to vote on during Tuesday morning’s meeting, but there were still two of great interest to the field hockey community.
Among the 33 items on the docket for all committees for 2021-23 was one proposal to create boys field hockey teams and another to ban boys from playing on girls teams for safety reasons, and they met with a split decision from the committee.
First up was the effort to sanction boys field hockey, which would be 7-on-7, a proposal that was submitted by the Field Hockey Committee itself. MIAA liaison Sherry Bryant admitted that having boys teams up and running soon would be difficult considering the current challenges presented by COVID-19, but that support would open a pathway for the future.
School Committee representative and field hockey official Katherine Hennessy of Marlboro stressed that the existence of boys teams would not preclude boys from playing on girls teams, and that the rule was about growing the game and not limiting opportunities.
It was recommended by a unanimous vote of 13- 0. The previous 13 sports committees to vote all gave their stamp of approval as well, the first in a multistep process to have rules officially adopted, with the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Council having the final say on June 1, 2021.
On the other hand, the
proposal to ban boys from participating on girls teams, which was submitted by Walpole parent Michelle Griffin and argued that the powerful hits of male players pose a danger to girls, was not approved as 11 members voted against and two abstained, fol
lowing suit with the other 13 committees to weigh in. Previous attempts to exclude boys from playing on girls teams have not held up in court.
The committee passed a motion to clarify the modification dealing with running time in the second half of a game with a fivegoal deficit, moving to stop time for the two-minute break between quarters. Officials on the committee also expressed trepidation
about pre-game paperwork not being submitted early and JV teams playing after practicing with quarantined varsity squads.
But overall, the committee was pleased with the initial results of the COVID-19 modifications after the painstaking process of getting them in place, reporting that teams have been adjusting well to game play and that athlete participation had actually increased despite concerns that might be the
opposite with less players on the field with the switch to 7-on-7 for this fall.
“This was a great example of true teamwork, from the task force, the sports medicine committee, the sports committees,” said Bryant. “I think as members, you folks that serve on the committees just rose to the occasion. Think about how folks prioritized the commitment to our kids across the state to make this happen.”