Boy's Shot at Playing Field Hockey Is Blocked by Gender Rule

Captains are also, quite often, stars of the games. Not Vu. You have to play to be considered a star, and Vu has been banned from competition because the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section has ruled that you have to be a girl to play field hockey.

Vu, a boy, doesn't qualify.

"Girls can play guys' sports, like wrestling and football, but I can't play field hockey," the soft-spoken 17-year-old said after watching his team defeat Westminster on a recent afternoon. "It doesn't make sense. An athlete is an athlete."

The all-female cast championing Vu's cause agrees. His teammates, their coach, and even girls from some opposing teams are rallying behind an appeal on Vu's behalf.

Similar challenges by boys have been swiftly opposed by women's rights activists as undermining efforts to foster girls' self-esteem and equality through sports. But if Orange County's field hockey players are any indication, such thinking may be out of date.

"It's girl power," said Santiago's Rosy Pineda, who says safety isn't an issue as long as Vu and other boys stick to the sports' non-contact rules. "We want to show them we are as good as them and it makes us want to do better."

Vu, slightly framed at 5 feet 5, 125 pounds, seems an unlikely trailblazer. He says he is not out for attention and doesn't need to crash an all-girls team to find a girlfriend.

"I really like the sport," Vu said. "It's demanding and physical. I just want to play."

Recently chosen Santiago's student of the month, Vu is a member of the National Honor Society and is the Garden Grove school's senior class treasurer. He also shows up at school each weekday morning at 5:15 to work in the cafeteria.

A Garden Grove League champion wrestler in the winter and a member of the junior varsity tennis team in the spring, Vu wanted to play a fall sport, too. He ran cross-country last year, but found it boring, and he considered himself too small for football.

"Not everyone is a football player," said Vu, who was sporting a large cut above his left eye where a hockey ball had hit him during a recent practice.