16-Year-Old Black Student Forced To Cut Hair To Play In Softball Game

A 16-year-old Black student was forced to cut her hair so that she could play in her high school softball game.

Nicole Pyles from Durham, North Carolina, attends Hillside High School and has played several softball games for her school, but last month the way she wore her hair all of a sudden became an issue.

During the game which took place on April 19, the referee said that they were unable to see her uniform number because of her beaded braids, despite this not being an issue during the teenager’s previous games.

Upon the first complaint, Nicole tucked her hair into her shirt and sports bra so that her number was visible, but after a second complaint, the referee stated that her hair beads ‘violated the rules’.

Nicole was then given the option to either stop playing or lose the beads. Apparently her school’s team was in the lead prior to the complaints, so she didn’t want to let her team down. With this in mind, she chose to have her beads cut off.

The student told ABC News’ Zachary Kiesch:

I felt disrespected and I felt humiliated. I truly felt like in my heart that it was not a choice… That’s my team, so I will stand by them no matter what.

Beads are not going to be the reason we don’t win a game.

‘My hair means a lot to me […] I’m not going to let braids take away from who I am on the field and off the field, but it is a part of me and no, I don’t want that to be stripped away from me,’ Nicole continued.

The NFHS has since issued a statement where it said that ‘the rule was never intended to address any kind of prohibition of a culture or ethnic group or even a hairstyle that might be most comfortable for a participant,’ and that the rules were in place to ensure students’ helmets ‘fit snugly’.