More than every week after a Dighton-Rehoboth area hockey participant demanded the state take motion to guard athletes after a male participant precipitated a horrific incident on the sector, nothing has been completed.
The spineless Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association solely put out a toothless assertion defending its resolution to permit boys to play in ladies’ sports activities after the Dighton-Rehoboth captain despatched an extended, considerate, articulate letter expressing her outrage on the harm of one other participant.
The extreme facial and dental accidents got here in a recreation towards Swampscott the place a male participant took a penalty shot and struck a woman within the face, inflicting her to scream in agony.
“The shrieks and screams of fear and pain that projected from her after being hit filled the stadium,” Dighton-Rehoboth captain Kelsey Bain wrote. “The looks of horror and shock on the faces of the girls surrounding her were also chilling.”
She went on, “I understand the MIAA is adhering to the Massachusetts Equal Rights Amendment, but continuously using the law as a scapegoat for criticism and issues regarding this topic is unacceptable.”
The MIAA is hiding beneath state legal guidelines to make its case of permitting boys to play area hockey. Under the Equal Rights Amendment in Massachusetts, boys can play on a woman’s group if the varsity doesn’t supply a male equal in that sport.
The MIAA supplied solely a mealy mouthed assertion that seemed prefer it had been written by attorneys. It was far much less considerate than the piece by Bain.
“We respect and understand the complexity of 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 assertion mentioned.
But the MIAA is also charged with defending the well being and security of children who play sports activities. And that must be the primary concern right here.
The MIAA has previously come beneath sturdy criticism for its selections and the secretive method it handles enterprise.
The MIAA raked in additional than $3 million in income in 2021, a lot of it from charges it costs 370 college districts.
Five high MIAA officers make greater than $100,000 a yr, together with former govt director William Gaine, Jr. who made almost $190,000 in 2021, in line with its charity filings with the legal professional basic’s workplace.
The MIAA additionally spent greater than $308,000 on lobbyists in 2021, in line with its filings.
When the Boston Herald did a collection on the MIAA in 2017, a spokesman didn’t return repeated calls from the newspaper or return emails searching for easy info together with how a lot the group makes from tournaments.
Since the MIAA will get a lot of its funding from public colleges, this is a matter the place state politicians and others mustn’t get off the hook.
What’s the governor’s stand on this? Where’s Charlie Baker, who’s now working the NCAA? The incident the place the feminine athlete was injured occurred in Baker’s yard of Swampscott.
The public seems to be overwhelmingly towards permitting boys to take part in feminine athletics. Boston.com did a survey of readers and almost 90% mentioned there must be gender restrictions in sports activities.
“How much longer does the MIAA plan on using girls as statistical data points before they realize that boys do not belong in girls’ sports,” Bain wrote. “Twenty injuries? One hundred? Death?”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”