Massachusetts school district allows athletes to refuse to play against opposite sex
DIGHTON - It was a moment that still makes Dighton-Rehoboth sports fans wince. A female high school field hockey player getting her teeth knocked out by a shot from a male player on the opposing team from Swampscott in 2023.
"We felt that the injury that happened back in November was so grave, so devastating, that it would've prompted change," said Dighton-Rehoboth School Superintendent Bill Runey.
It's not the first time males have played on high school field hockey teams that were traditionally female-only. It's a right protected by the organization that oversees high school sports in Massachusetts, the MIAA.
New policy in Dighton-Rehoboth
But this week, the Dighton-Rehoboth School Committee voted to put a new policy on the books. "No student athlete on a single-sex team shall be penalized by the District in any manner for refusing to play...against an opposing team because that team includes a member of the opposite sex."
The new policy also allows coaches to opt-out of games for the same reason, without consequences.
"You can't hide from the statistics that most boys are bigger, faster, stronger than the girls that they would compete against in field hockey," said Runey.
MIAA response
A spokesperson with the MIAA said the association adheres to decades-old laws that guarantee students have equal access to sports whether they're male or female. "The decision by the Dighton-Rehoboth School Committee was a local decision and as such the MIAA does not involve itself in local policy."
The topic is controversial. "I have a grandson who's older, and he played Pop Warner in Dighton, and there was a girl on the team, the only girl. She was as good as the guys," said one woman who didn't want to share her name.
"In high school you have women's sports, and you have male sports, and I think that's how it should stay," said Dighton father Jeff Allen.
Dighton-Rehoboth school officials said their decision was based on safety, and they hope other school districts follow their lead.