The suggestion is that the problem rests with the Missouri State High School Activities Association. It draws up the rules governing school sports. Rockwood just follows them.

Those rules put Matt in a Catch-22: He could play for Eureka High, if the school approved it, but then the girls team with Matt could compete only against a boys team or another coed team. Because he would be the only boy playing in perhaps the entire Midwest, Eureka High would have no one to play.

That’s the reason Rockwood gave for not allowing Matt to play, casting it as a decision between the boy and the team, Bozdech said. “He’s putting himself first, that was the message. And that’s not true.”

Bozdech said he wants Rockwood to ask the state activities association for an exemption to the “no boys” rule. And if the association rejects the request, then Matt won’t play, Bozdech said.

Bozdech cannot seek an exemption himself — the school would have to do that. And no school has ever asked for such an exemption, said Jason West, association spokesman.

In that respect, Matt is a potential trailblazer.