A 12-year-old boy from Texas says he just wants to play football. But the local Pee Wee Association says he's too big to play.
Elijah Earnheart is 6'1" and weighs 297 pounds. That's more than twice the weight the Pee Wee rule book allows for kids in his grade.
Elijah and his mother Cindy Earnheart talk with John Berman on "Early Start" this morning and explain that Elijah was hurt by the group's decision.
"I felt sad and kind of down because I started practicing with them for three weeks, and then, they told me I couldn't play," Elijah says.
The school has provided other opportunities to play football, but Elijah's mom says that's not the point.
"Elijah will play football, that's not the issue," Cindy says. "It's just that we put in a lot of hard work with that team, and he went out there and was dedicated to that team for three weeks, you know, blood, sweat and tears, every single night."
After this interview, Zoraida talks with Mesquite Pee Wee Football Association president Ronnie Henderson who explains that the coach for the Pee Wee team didn't follow the proper steps in this situation.
"They have code of conducts and steps they're supposed to go through," Henderson says. "And this coach didn't follow any of their steps to go through."
"We'll change the wording to make it even simpler to read, and we will meet more with the coaches," Henderson adds. "Everybody should have known this. I really feel like this is just a bad mistake that was made. Maybe the coach didn't know."