A Boy, A Kilt, And A Fight To Play Field Hockey

The candy cane-shaped stick took some getting used to. So did the wisecracks about his masculinity and the checkered skirt - a kilt, really - that he wore during games.

But field hockey was Daniel Berheide’s kind of sport. And if the only way he could play was on the Saratoga Springs High School girls’ team, that was OK by him.

Then officials said the 16-year-old couldn’t play because he posed a threat to girl players.

Stung by sexism, Berheide refuses to quit and is trying to rejoin his female teammates.

The 5-foot-11, 185-pound boy is used to the question: Why insist on playing with girls? Berheide sees it as an opportunity to hone the skills he uses in his other favorite sports: varsity ice hockey and lacrosse.

Besides, he really likes it.

“It was something I enjoyed a lot,” Berheide said. “Though it’s kind of funny running around in a kilt, it wasn’t the worst experience I’ve ever had. I mean, I forgot about it once I was on the field.”

An honors student, he caught the field hockey bug in 1993 while in France during a school break. His host there played field hockey, as do many French boys.

But Berheide faced problems back in the States. Questions like, “Hey, isn’t that a guy out there?” greeted him when he took the field at a summer clinic.

Such talk continued after he was given the green light to play on the girls’ varsity squad. While Berheide says most of the girls accepted him, some opponents tried to unnerve him with trash talk that questioned his sexuality. He kept his cool, feeling it was his duty to play fair.

Then there were challenges off the field.

“In practices, girls could get on your nerves every once in a while, when they were having a bad day with males and I would always take the butt end of that,” he said.

“The bus rides were always something interesting. I know what it’s like to talk in the ice hockey locker room, the lacrosse locker room. And it’s just the opposite. It’s just the same stuff, but the girls’ version. I would usually sit in the back of the bus with my friends, but I would eventually move up to the front of the bus with my coach because I didn’t want to hear it.”

Berheide had a good - though not great - year on the varsity team in 1993. He played on offense as a “cherry picker” and scored three goals in the season, including the winning goal of a sectional final.

“He doesn’t just bulldoze over everyone. He’s a good field hockey player,” said former teammate Sarah Hardesty. “Maybe he’s aggressive a little, but I don’t see him as a threat.”

In 1994, however, he was not allowed to play after other schools in his section complained to the New York State Public High School Association about his presence on the team.

Karen Flewelling, one of the complaining coaches, said Berheide would never intentionally hurt anyone. But she said his size and strength, exhibited in his killer slapshot, posed a threat to her players at Shaker High School.

“He’s bigger than any girl on my team,” she said “I’ve got girls that are 5 feet and weigh 120 pounds.”

State education regulations allow boys to play on girls’ field hockey TEAMs, although it’s rare. Boys can be barred if their participation has a “significant adverse effect” on the opportunity for girls to play.

A local subsidiary of the association last year said Berheide posed such a threat. He was kept from playing last fall but appealed to state Education Commissioner Thomas Sobol.

Sobol, upholding the decision last month, agreed that Berheide’s athleticism and “aggressive style” could create a hazard and inhibit girls from playing.

Berheide is confused by the ruling, saying he wasn’t the best - or even biggest - player on the field. Saratoga actually had an improved record after he left the team, a fact that’s not lost on him.

He’s signing up to play again this fall. His parents, including a mother who teaches women’s studies at a local college, are looking at other avenues for an appeal.

“Keeping Daniel out of field hockey hurts women because it reinforces the notion that men are better than women,” said Catherine Berheide, an associate professor of sociology at Skidmore College. “What is better for women in the United States than to be able to run around the field with a 5-foot-11 boy and keep him from scoring?”