High School Football Player Taken Off Team Due To Homelessness

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High School Football Player Taken Off Team Due To Homelessness

A homeless high school student in Washington, D.C. has been booted from his school’s football team, despite a great scoring record and a standing offer for a college scholarship.

According to NBC, 18-year-old Jamal Speaks is fielding an offer to play college football at Temple University. However, the Washington D.C. teen is being denied his spot on the Ballou High School team over the fact that he does not currently have a permanent home address.

The young man’s father is deceased, and he has no relationship with his mother. With no other family able to take him in, he sleeps on his friend’s couches while maintaining his studies and playing for the team.

However, this is somehow frowned upon by the District of Columbia Interscholastic Athletic Association. The committee has ruled that Speaks is ineligible because they can’t verify his address.

Meanwhile, Speaks has been in the same situation for the past two years, and has been upfront with the school and the athletic program about the fact that he has no permanent address. He believed that the issue had long been resolved, so he was shocked to be pulled from the game last Saturday night before kickoff, while Temple recruiters were waiting in the stands to watch him play.