A female student-athlete suffered a pretty gruesome injury during a field hockey game played Thursday between two Massachusetts high schools, and the incident is renewing a debate on whether men and women should be playing in the same sport together.
The female athlete horrifically had two of her teeth knocked out during a high school field hockey game after a shot struck by an opposing male player deflected off a teammate’s stick and caused her brutal injury.
The incident happened during the first round of the field hockey state playoffs between Dighton-Rehoboth and Swampscott.
The video below shows the male athlete striking the ball and the female athlete falling to her knees as she realizes what just happened. She could be heard screaming in pain as others around her were in disbelief.
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.
Dighton-Rehoboth Superintendent Bill Runey said in a letter to families that a shot taken by a male member of the Swampscott team left one of their female players with “significant facial and dental injuries.”
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral NCAA stories via Google! Follow Us
The Dighton-Rehoboth player was taken to the hospital.
“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,” he said, via the Washington Times.
“Seeing the horror in the eyes of our players and coaches upon greeting their bus last night is evidence to me that there has to be a renewed approach by the MIAA to protect the safety of our athletes,” he also said.
The MIAA fired back by citing the Massachusetts Equal Rights Amendment that discriminates based on gender. It was extended to scholastic sports three years later.
The MIAA said they “understand” safety concerns, but wanting inclusion has trumped it.
“We respect and understand the complexity and concerns that exist regarding student safety. However, student safety has not been a successful defense to excluding students of one gender from participating on teams of the opposite gender,” the MIAA said in a statement. “The arguments generally fail due to the lack of correlation between injuries and mixed-gender teams.”
Runey said the unidentified injured student, who had worn a mouthguard and headgear at the time of the incident, has since been released from the hospital.
