By Erin Doherty, Sports Co-Editor
They’re back. It took a new law from the D.C. Council, but two Wilson football players, Luis Flor and Kasper Tuomala, are back on the field after spending several games watching from the bleachers.
Nine days after the Council approved “emergency” legislation allowing the two Lab School students to play for Wilson’s team, Mayor Vincent Gray signed the law.
Flor and Tuomala, who are juniors, had been playing on the Wilson football team since their freshman year. Because the Lab School does not have a football team, the boys were allowed to play for Wilson until this year with no controversy.
However, when the District of Columbia Interscholastic Athletic Association (DCIAA) discovered that the boys were not enrolled at Wilson, and that they were paying private school tuition, the association removed them from the Wilson roster. That left the two football players without a team.
D.C. students with special educational needs who legally prove that those needs cannot be met at a D.C. public school can get private school tuition waived. Until now, those students could join a public school sports team of their choosing, whereas other private school students paying tuition could not.
On September 23, the D.C. City Council approved legislation, proposed by Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh, allowing the two to play. But that did not end the saga of Flor and Tuomala. Even after the legislation was passed, the boys were stuck in the bleachers.
Mayor Gray objected to signing the law, telling representatives from the Lab School, “allowing students who have elected to attend private school [could] push our public school students out of participation.”
After continued pressure from Lab School parents, Cheh, and other Council members, Gray finally agreed, signing the bill into law on October 2.
The boys and their families had been devastated to think of the prospect of their high school football careers ending so early. Before the families learned that the boys would be back on the Wilson team, Flor said in an interview, “Me [Flor] and Tuomala are angry, and we need to get on the field and help our Tigers go to States.”
When Gray agreed to Cheh’s bill, the controversy regarding the boys’ eligibility came to a close. After what has been close to an eight-week journey–a lesson in patience, bureaucracy, and civics–for the boys, “me [Luis] and Kasper are practicing Monday [October 6],” Luis said. “We are back at it.”
