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Advocates demand change after Durham student forced to cut braids during game based on decades-old policy

After a high school student was told to cut off her hair beads during a softball game, advocacy groups are calling for change from the National Federation of State High School Associations.

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By
Lora Lavigne
, WRAL Durham reporter
On Wednesday, WRAL News brought you the story of a high school softball player who was told to cut and remove beads from her hair during a game at Hillside High.

Advocates are calling it an act of hair discrimination. The incident is based on a rule that's been on the books for decades.

Nicole Pyles said she was told she had to remove the beads in line with the National Federation of State High School Associations policy, or she couldn’t finish the game.

“My team, all of my friends were cutting out some of my beads. They snatched some of the beads out of my hair,” described Pyles. “I felt just so embarrassed and disrespected and just distraught at that point.”

WRAL’s Lora Lavigne spent the day finding out more about the policy that led to this incident – taking the demands for change directly to the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).

The association has been writing rules for over 100 years. The policy in question is rule 3-2-5 which states that ‘plastic visors, bandanas and hair-beads are prohibited.’

Now, many decades later, people are demanding a change to the rule.

“As a person who does anti-racism work, particularly with educators, and as a former Hillside High School Educator and basketball coach, you know I felt for this child," said Dr. Ronda Taylor Bullock, the lead curator for a non-profit called WEARE.

The incident, which happened last month, was in compliance with policy – but some are now calling the rule outdated, harmful and an act of discrimination.

Dr. Karissa Niehoff, Executive director of the NFHS, says the rules are thoroughly and carefully reviewed annually. Rules are determined on a sport-by-sport basis to prioritize athlete safety.

"Really a lot of input comes from officials. Can you see the numbers? Can they designate home and away? Is the uniform too busy?" said Niehoff.

When asked if there was any consideration that this rule in particular may be culturally insensitive, she explained that safety was a main priority.

"First and foremost, we look at whether or not those types of adornments would be hard or inflexible. Would it cause injury to an opponent or to the wearer itself," she said.

However, in recent years, she said they've begun considering whether or not they've had injury data. They can look into that data to help determine whether or not hard hair beads may be an injury risk.

In recent years, she said, they've also begun looking at whether or not someone's identity and ultimately participation is impacted based on their cultural connections and background.

She assures people the association has not turned a blind eye to what happened to Pyles.

Now, the rule book is being reviewed with a new set of eyes.

"What we see now which is a beautiful thing is that our participants are becoming more diverse," said Niehoff.

"Every year when we go through the rules process we get new information and situations that we have to consider," she said. "And culture now is at the table."

The softball rules committee will consider athletes’ hair beads in the next few weeks. Niehoff told WRAL News that, moving forward, she hopes more sensitive, solution-based conversations can happen on the field.

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