Who is Sawyer Groothius? Male player under scrutiny as female field hockey player loses teeth in sickening fashion

A female athlete on the field hockey team for Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School in Massachusetts was injured by a male player from the Swampscott High School during a MIAA (Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association) state playoff game on Thursday, November 2.

The male field hockey player was later reportedly identified as Sawyer Groothius, a 4-year varsity player who is also the co-captain of the Swampscott team, as per The Chronicle. His participation in the female hockey team raised a lot of questions about the female players’ safety, especially after a clip from Thursday’s incident started circulating on social media.

Bill Runey, the superintendent at the Dighton-Rehoboth Regional School District said that the athlete was struck by a shot during the third quarter of the game. The female field hockey player, whose name was not disclosed, reportedly lost two teeth, sustained some injuries to her face, and was taken to the hospital.

Runey told WCVB-TV that the girl who suffered the injuries criticized MIAA’s rule that permits schools to let boys participate on girls’ teams if the same sport does not have a separate team for boys and vice versa. He added:

“While I understand that the MIAA has guidelines in place for co-ed participation under section 43 of their handbook, this incident dramatically magnifies the concerns of many about player safety.”

---

Sawyer Groothius comes under fire for knocking out female field hockey player

In the clip from the field hockey game, which has now gone viral, someone was heard screaming after the female player got hit and landed on the ground. The other girls on the team looked distraught as they covered their mouths with their hands in a shocking gesture.

Another girl could be heard criticizing Sawyer’s shot:

“Very unclassy sportsmanship!”

X user @CasseyWearsHeels shared another short clip of the game following the knock-out, where Sawyer Groothius was seen scoring a goal against the Dighton-Rehoboth team.

Cassandra wrote that the male player scored the goal only 30 seconds after injuring the female athlete and he was also the one to score another goal for Swampscott High and "unfairly" helping the team to qualify for the next game.

Netizens blamed the state of Massachusetts, Swampscott High School, as well as the administrators for the incident. They strongly demanded that men be banned from women's sports. Some people also opined that female athletes should refuse to play if the opponent team or their own allows a male player to participate in the game.

---

MIAA's response to the field hockey incident on Thursday

The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association responded to the field hockey controversy in a statement citing the Massachusetts Equal Rights Amendment adopted in 1976, which prohibits discrimination based on sex.

In 1979, the measure was extended to scholastic sports. MIAA's statement on the matter read as follows:

“The court determined that a blanket rule prohibiting boys from playing on girls teams, where there was no equivalent boys team, violated the ERA. We respect and understand the complexity and 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 arguments generally fail due to the lack of correlation between injuries and mixed-gender teams.”

ICONS aka the Independent Council on Women’s Sports jabbed at Charlie Baker, the NCAA President who reportedly lives in Dighton, Massachusetts. The council tagged Baker and asked him to turn up the volume so that he could listen to the female players’ screams.

Dighton-Rehoboth Regional School District's superintendent Bill Runey said that seeing the horror in the players’ and the coaches’ eyes, it was evident to him that the MIAA should have a new approach to ensure the safety of the athletes.