SOUTHAMPTON, NY â€"  A 13-year-old Long Island boy who has been the star of a local high school girl's field hockey team for the past two years has been kicked off the team for being too dominant of a player, MyFoxNY reports.
Keeling Pilaro was told he could no longer play for Southampton High School's varsity girl's field hockey team this year after becoming the team's star over the past two years.
Section 11, which oversees Suffolk County's high school sports, determined that as a boy, Keeling had too significant an advantage over the other players.
"(Keeling is) having a significant adverse effect on some of his opposing female players," Section 11 claimed according to MyFoxNY. "The rules state he would be allowed to play if he wasn't the dominant player."
Section 11's executive director, Ed Cinelli, told MyFoxNY, "As a sport it's a girls sport. When a boy plays, it leads the way for other male players to come in and take over."
Keeling learned to play field hockey while in Ireland, where it is also a men's sport. At 4 feet 8 inches and 82 pounds, he says he does not feel he is at an advantage, or that he is even significantly better than his opponents. He says some of the girls he has played against are faster and stronger than he is.
"I do hope they let me play," he told MyFoxNY. "I really like these girls -- they are my family."
Keeling and his parents have already lost his initial appeal, but they will plead their case again in May.
Article from FOXNEWS
