Collier County school superintendent Ray Baker announced today (Friday) all high school athletes must be able to prove their age -- or they won’t be able to play sports. The decision comes after several Immokalee High School students were found to be too old. Collier superintendent Ray Baker says all public high school athletes must be able to verify and prove their ages. The maximum is 19-years, 9-months. But one Immokalee high athlete was 30 and another was 23. This week the state high school athletic association stripped several district soccer and football titles and put Immokalee on probation. Baker says the school won’t appeal those penalties. He says the district will put together a summer task force to address over-age students. But he says it’s a statewide issue.

“It’s not just Collier County has students that come to us with documents that are hard to track and hard to verify.”

Baker says Immokalee High principal Manny Touron (tour-ON) will get at least a written reprimand and possibly more. But Baker says he will remain the principal.