Do boys play field hockey in high school?

Answer 1

Yes, because it is a unisex sport in most of the world, although teams are often sex-segregated above primary/elementary school level (i.e. there are separate male and female teams). The U.S.A. is the only country to restrict Field Hockey to a female-only sport.

In the States, there are four levels of acceptance for boys:

• Tier 1: Pennsylvania passed the Equal Rights Amendment years ago. According to their courts, any child can play on any age appropriate team. This set up that boys can play field hockey, volleyball, etc even if they have a comparable team of their own - for instance in basketball. A few years ago, one girl was injured for the girls' tennis season so she played with the boys - and won state. Individual school districts - notably West Chester - have tried passing policies that the will not allow their boys any of these rights and will not play any school that does. If a school has a boy on their team, it was to be written into the contract that the school would be forced to take a forfeit if the boy plays.

• Tier 2: Maryland, Massachusetts, and California. Boys can play on girls teams if and only if there is no comparable boys' sport. In California, there is a further restriction; while girls can play on a "boys" team if the school does not offer a girls' team, whether or not boys' teams are available in that sport in other schools (for example, golf), boys cannot play on girls teams if boys already have "adequate opportunities to compete in sports" at that school.

• Tier 3: (The most insidious level) I know at least Oregon and Illinois fall into this level, I believe there are about 6 other states, but I'm looking for info on that. Boys are allowed to play on girls teams if there is no comparable team for them. The hook comes in that then the team must compete against male teams. So in fact, if a boy makes the girls' field hockey team, they must find other teams with boys on them. Since there are none, in fact if he makes the team, the team can't play. It doesn't matter how young or small. So if you have ONE 4foot tall freshman boy on a varsity team of 30 senior girls that are all 5'6'', the boy is viewed as too much of a force and the girls must play boys teams. The number, size, and talent of the girls does not matter

• Tier 4: In most states, boys are out right banned from playing on any girls teams. There are no boys' teams; even if there were, the schools wouldn't sanction them because it would throw Title IX quotas out of whack.
• For the record, private clubs can still allow boys, since they are not governed by Title IX and are free not to discriminate. LINK BELOW