Recently I was watching a documentary on HBO about the Kansas City Chiefs pre-season. An interesting show potraying a lot of the behind the scenes antics that we as spectators don't normally see or know about. One of the episodes showed the new rookie being duct taped to an endzone pole and having buckets of ice pured over his head. Although this was all in fun, it made me wonder about the whole topic of hazing and the rite of passage for young players in high school and college sports.
When one of my sons was a freshman in high school he was the only freshman on the varsity team. Because of this, he was exposed to a "daily" initiation prior to the team practices (before the coaches showed up). My son hid it from me for a while until he got to the point where he couldn't take it anymore. He finally confided in me as to what was going on but begged me to not tell the coach. As a parent I was in a real quandry. The hazing that my son was dealing with was becoming more and more mean spirited and was effecting his enthusiasm to continue on this team. I was adament that the coach needed to know what was going on, but wanted to respect my son's request for it to remain confidential. Against my better judgement I supported my son's decision, and helped him to come up with alternatives to avoid the ongoing hazing.
This was an issue, however that constantly nagged at me. Every sport particpant at the high school was required to sign an anti-hazing contract with punitive measures put in place if a player was found guilty engaging in these activities. The problem was that it obviously still continued, and it appeared to me that it was something that the coaching staff just turned a blind eye to. No policy was put into place to allow players that have been victimized to be able to report what was going on without fear of retribution.
I'm curious if others have faced this and what the overall perception of the current MIAA policy is. Does it do enough to protect these young players? Do we just allow boys to be boys (not to say it doesn't happen with girls as well) or do we say enough is enough and hold these players and coaches to a higher standard?
http://www.miaa.net/hazing-law.pdf
When one of my sons was a freshman in high school he was the only freshman on the varsity team. Because of this, he was exposed to a "daily" initiation prior to the team practices (before the coaches showed up). My son hid it from me for a while until he got to the point where he couldn't take it anymore. He finally confided in me as to what was going on but begged me to not tell the coach. As a parent I was in a real quandry. The hazing that my son was dealing with was becoming more and more mean spirited and was effecting his enthusiasm to continue on this team. I was adament that the coach needed to know what was going on, but wanted to respect my son's request for it to remain confidential. Against my better judgement I supported my son's decision, and helped him to come up with alternatives to avoid the ongoing hazing.
This was an issue, however that constantly nagged at me. Every sport particpant at the high school was required to sign an anti-hazing contract with punitive measures put in place if a player was found guilty engaging in these activities. The problem was that it obviously still continued, and it appeared to me that it was something that the coaching staff just turned a blind eye to. No policy was put into place to allow players that have been victimized to be able to report what was going on without fear of retribution.
I'm curious if others have faced this and what the overall perception of the current MIAA policy is. Does it do enough to protect these young players? Do we just allow boys to be boys (not to say it doesn't happen with girls as well) or do we say enough is enough and hold these players and coaches to a higher standard?
http://www.miaa.net/hazing-law.pdf
Comment