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   Update: U.S. District Judge John Ross denied a request by a parent in the Ladue School District for a Temporary Restraining Order that would allow their child to play soccer on the high school Junior Varsity team. 
   
   ST. LOUIS, MO — The mother of a Ladue High School student took her case to the federal courthouse after her son, called John Doe in legal documents, did not make the varsity soccer team and was not allowed to play on the J.V. team. 
   
   The woman’s attorney said the issue is age and sex discrimination. Friday morning Ladue school officials said if a junior does not make the varsity team, the boy cannot play again on the junior varsity team. The school said this is to allow lower grade students a chance to develop their skills so that they will be prepared to try out for varsity. 
   
   The mother of a Ladue junior who did not make the varsity cut does not think that’s fair. She believes her son, who already played on the J.V soccer team, is good enough to play again on the same team. 
   
   The coach sent the family an email that said their son was on the bubble when it came to picking varsity team members. He wrote the boy has holes in his technical ability and game decision making. 
   
   The family appealed the coach’s ruling to the superintendent who decided the family’s complaint was unsubstantiated. 
   
   The mother’s suit claims her son is the victim of age and gender discrimination because she says the rules are different for the girls’ soccer team. 
   
   In the courtroom testimony from the coach indicated the seven juniors cut from the varsity team were not good enough to play with on the J.V. team. He said the reason he said nice things about John Doe was to build his self-esteem and not punch him in the gut after being cut from the varsity team. 
   
   The lawyer for John Doe also introduced documents that he said show players performance ratings given by coaches show that John Doe is better than some of the boys who made varsity. 
   
   Also in courtroom testimony, it was revealed that Ladue does not have a policy keeping juniors from playing J.V. sports. It depends on how many kids go out for a certain sport and how many spots are on the team. The coach said this applied to both girls and boys team. 
   
   The judge did not decide today if John Doe will be put on the junior varsity team as his mother wants. The judge plans to decide on Monday. 
   
   The lawyer for John Doe said the boy wanted to take this case to the federal courthouse, that he wants to play soccer. 
   
   Update: U.S. District Judge John Ross denied a request by a parent in the Ladue School District for a Temporary Restraining Order that would allow their child to play soccer on the high school Junior Varsity team. ||||| Close Get email notifications on Kim Bell daily! 
   
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target: – After her 16-year-old son failed to make the varsity soccer team, a disappointed mother went a step or two further than most parents might. She filed a lawsuit in federal court, alleging that the teen is a victim of age and gender discrimination, Fox 2 reports. The family says the rules at Missouri's Ladue High School state that if a junior doesn't make it onto the varsity team, he can't play again on the junior varsity team; that way, students in lower grades can use the JV team to develop the skills they need to try out for varsity. The family wants the boy placed on the JV team, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. They first appealed the coach's decision to district administrators and the superintendent, both of whom sided with the coach; they then complained to the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights, but ultimately sued because the office had no power to force the school to place the boy on a team. The boy reportedly wanted to take the case to federal court. The family's lawsuit claims that the girls' soccer team does allow juniors to play on JV, which is where the sex discrimination comes in. "There are many schools across the country that have this policy that you either make varsity as a junior or you're out of the program," says the boy's stepfather, who is also one of the lawyers handling the case. "If someone said 'Cut all the blacks,' that would be illegal. And it's illegal for age too." He adds that per stats and rankings, the boy should have made varsity. But the coach testified in court that the only reason he said positive things about the boy's skills was to build up his self-esteem rather than making him feel worse after he had already failed to make the team, and he also testified that the school doesn't actually have a policy preventing juniors from playing on JV teams. He said it depends how many spots there are on the team and how many kids want to play. The judge is set to decide Monday.