An eighth-grader at Eastmark High School in Mesa, Arizona, was removed from boys' basketball tryouts after his school district questioned his eligibility based on the gender listed on his original birth certificate.

"I was really upset and disappointed," Laker Jackson said.

The 14-year-old told the Scripps News Group in Phoenix he had been training for a year to make the team at Eastmark, which is a 7th to 12th-grade school in the Queen Creek Unified School District.

Laker's mother, Becky Jackson, said the original birth certificate had an error, which listed Laker as a female instead of male. Becky said she became aware of the mistake years ago when she originally registered Laker for school. As a busy mom of six kids, she said correcting the document was not initially a priority.

"So

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