Hammock Parties
09-24-2005, 06:21 PM
http://www.freep.com/news/mich/play24e_20050924.htm
Maxime Goovaerts is a 100-pound, 5-foot-tall eighth-grader who didn't know field hockey was a girls sport when he signed up. After all, both boys and girls play in his native Belgium.
But in the United States, most school field hockey teams are for girls. In Ann Arbor, the public school district didn't like the idea of a boy playing on a girls team, but after some discussion, Maxime was able to play last year.
This year, the school district said no.
Now, the 13-year-old Ann Arbor boy is suing to continue playing and is venturing into legal waters that could help shape the issue of boys versus girls sports.
The district is worried about size and skill level differences between boys and girls, said Liz Margolis, the district's director of communications. Also, officials are worried about whether boys, who have plenty of sports opportunities, would take up too many slots on girls teams, she said.
"Right now, I don't believe there are any other boys playing on any other girls teams" in the district, Margolis said. "But if this happens, where does it end?"
The response from Maxime's lawyers: Poppycock.
"This artificial idea of classifying it as a girls sport is just a dodge," said Jean Ledwith King, a lawyer who filed a civil rights complaint with the State of Michigan on Maxime's behalf. King is an expert on Title IX, which ensures gender equity in school sports.
"The schools are just trying to save money by not setting up boys volleyball teams and boys field hockey teams, and it's just illegal," King said.
Johnathan Crutcher, 15, a junior at Cody High in Detroit and a student organizer for By Any Means Necessary, a grassroots civil rights organization, said it's unfair that there is no boys field hockey team for Maxime to play on. He said that a boy on a girls field hockey team would have unfair advantages as far as physical strength. "It's unfair to the girls who want to play field hockey" too, he said.
However, if girls are being allowed to join boys teams, then the guy should be able to play girls field hockey. "They should be treated fairly, the same way," he said.
Meanwhile, the school district agreed to let Maxime play until the court decides otherwise. In reality, the short middle school season will almost be over by the Oct. 19 court date for the lawsuit against the district. But there's still high school to come, and there are no boys high school field hockey teams in Ann Arbor.
His older cousin taught Maxime to play, said his father, Pierre Goovaerts, who said his son does not want to comment publicly. Maxime has been playing on local recreational leagues since third grade.
"He knows most of the girls on the team, and they know him very well," Goovaerts said. "Yesterday was his first game. The referee used to be his coach last year. She was so pleased that he would be allowed to play on the team."
Marla Linderman, who's representing Maxime in his lawsuit against the school district, said, "This is really just about him wanting to play."
Others say it's about more than one child.
"It would be unfair to give boys slots on girls teams," said Donna Lopiano, chief executive officer of the Women's Sports Foundation. "When you look at sports in general, girls are still underrepresented. Much as we would wish for a world where we all have equal access to sports, girls still have to make up ground."
The rules for some girls and boys sports are based on which gender will play, said John Johnson, spokesman for the Michigan High School Athletic Association. For example, a girls volleyball net under MHSAA rules is hung 8 inches lower than one for the boys. A girls basketball is 1 inch smaller in circumference, he said.
The association does not govern field hockey because not enough schools have teams.
Lopiano asserts that the issue is whether it's more important for an individual to have access to a sport, or to protect the rights of an entire class, such as girls, to access to sports, Lopiano said.
The 14th Amendment protects the class. So does Title IX. But state laws are often different. Boys have seldom won when they've sued for the right to play on a girls team. The only times they've been successful are under state laws. Maxime's lawyers are suing under Michigan's civil rights act.
The Michigan Civil Rights Commission let a boy play on a girls team in 1987. And a Massachusetts boy won the right to play on a girls field hockey team by suing via that state's Equal Rights Amendment. But no one knows how a higher court would rule.
Local schools that have dealt with girls who want to play boys sports say they'd likely let the girl play.
Harper Woods High School had a female football player two years ago, Superintendent Daniel Danosky said. The district would try to do the same for a boy who wanted to play on a girls team, he said.
"I understand it's the law that if you can't accommodate him on a similar team, you have to let him play," Danosky said.
The same is true in Warren Consolidated Schools, where girls have been on football and wrestling teams. "I would assume we would accommodate them the same way we accommodate girls on a boys team," said spokesman Bob Freehan.
Gabe Tononi, 15, is a 10th-grader at L'Anse Creuse High School in Harrison Township. Girls play football, he noted.
"If he wants to, it's his choice," Tononi said. "I think he should be able to play."
Maxime Goovaerts is a 100-pound, 5-foot-tall eighth-grader who didn't know field hockey was a girls sport when he signed up. After all, both boys and girls play in his native Belgium.
But in the United States, most school field hockey teams are for girls. In Ann Arbor, the public school district didn't like the idea of a boy playing on a girls team, but after some discussion, Maxime was able to play last year.
This year, the school district said no.
Now, the 13-year-old Ann Arbor boy is suing to continue playing and is venturing into legal waters that could help shape the issue of boys versus girls sports.
The district is worried about size and skill level differences between boys and girls, said Liz Margolis, the district's director of communications. Also, officials are worried about whether boys, who have plenty of sports opportunities, would take up too many slots on girls teams, she said.
"Right now, I don't believe there are any other boys playing on any other girls teams" in the district, Margolis said. "But if this happens, where does it end?"
The response from Maxime's lawyers: Poppycock.
"This artificial idea of classifying it as a girls sport is just a dodge," said Jean Ledwith King, a lawyer who filed a civil rights complaint with the State of Michigan on Maxime's behalf. King is an expert on Title IX, which ensures gender equity in school sports.
"The schools are just trying to save money by not setting up boys volleyball teams and boys field hockey teams, and it's just illegal," King said.
Johnathan Crutcher, 15, a junior at Cody High in Detroit and a student organizer for By Any Means Necessary, a grassroots civil rights organization, said it's unfair that there is no boys field hockey team for Maxime to play on. He said that a boy on a girls field hockey team would have unfair advantages as far as physical strength. "It's unfair to the girls who want to play field hockey" too, he said.
However, if girls are being allowed to join boys teams, then the guy should be able to play girls field hockey. "They should be treated fairly, the same way," he said.
Meanwhile, the school district agreed to let Maxime play until the court decides otherwise. In reality, the short middle school season will almost be over by the Oct. 19 court date for the lawsuit against the district. But there's still high school to come, and there are no boys high school field hockey teams in Ann Arbor.
His older cousin taught Maxime to play, said his father, Pierre Goovaerts, who said his son does not want to comment publicly. Maxime has been playing on local recreational leagues since third grade.
"He knows most of the girls on the team, and they know him very well," Goovaerts said. "Yesterday was his first game. The referee used to be his coach last year. She was so pleased that he would be allowed to play on the team."
Marla Linderman, who's representing Maxime in his lawsuit against the school district, said, "This is really just about him wanting to play."
Others say it's about more than one child.
"It would be unfair to give boys slots on girls teams," said Donna Lopiano, chief executive officer of the Women's Sports Foundation. "When you look at sports in general, girls are still underrepresented. Much as we would wish for a world where we all have equal access to sports, girls still have to make up ground."
The rules for some girls and boys sports are based on which gender will play, said John Johnson, spokesman for the Michigan High School Athletic Association. For example, a girls volleyball net under MHSAA rules is hung 8 inches lower than one for the boys. A girls basketball is 1 inch smaller in circumference, he said.
The association does not govern field hockey because not enough schools have teams.
Lopiano asserts that the issue is whether it's more important for an individual to have access to a sport, or to protect the rights of an entire class, such as girls, to access to sports, Lopiano said.
The 14th Amendment protects the class. So does Title IX. But state laws are often different. Boys have seldom won when they've sued for the right to play on a girls team. The only times they've been successful are under state laws. Maxime's lawyers are suing under Michigan's civil rights act.
The Michigan Civil Rights Commission let a boy play on a girls team in 1987. And a Massachusetts boy won the right to play on a girls field hockey team by suing via that state's Equal Rights Amendment. But no one knows how a higher court would rule.
Local schools that have dealt with girls who want to play boys sports say they'd likely let the girl play.
Harper Woods High School had a female football player two years ago, Superintendent Daniel Danosky said. The district would try to do the same for a boy who wanted to play on a girls team, he said.
"I understand it's the law that if you can't accommodate him on a similar team, you have to let him play," Danosky said.
The same is true in Warren Consolidated Schools, where girls have been on football and wrestling teams. "I would assume we would accommodate them the same way we accommodate girls on a boys team," said spokesman Bob Freehan.
Gabe Tononi, 15, is a 10th-grader at L'Anse Creuse High School in Harrison Township. Girls play football, he noted.
"If he wants to, it's his choice," Tononi said. "I think he should be able to play."