Area Teams Stay Diligent On Hazing

Posted: January 27, 2016
By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Area public schools were already being diligent in regards to hazing and bullying, and the allegations of physical misconduct within Strasburg High School’s boys’ basketball program have served as a reminder as to just how important it is to be proactive in these areas.

The Strasburg boys’ basketball program’s indefinite suspension has been going on for more than two weeks while an investigation is taking place.

“When something like this happens, you reflect and try to do things even better,” Handley wrestling and golf coach David Scott said.

Each of the five area high schools makes a point of addressing hazing during meetings and practices so that coaches, athletes and parents are all on the same page when it comes to physical misconduct. The various schools want everyone to understand what’s considered acceptable behavior, and they want athletes to feel comfortable reporting misconduct if they experience it or witness it.

“When we have our team meeting at the beginning of the year, we go over rules and regulations, and the subject of hazing is certainly addressed,” Sherando baseball and wrestling coach Pepper Martin said. “It’s not to be tolerated in any way, shape or form, and any violator will be punished with the immediate dismissal from the team.”

Handley director of student activities Rick Lilly said the school holds a seminar for all the coaches and the school’s sponsors during the week before the start of classes, holds meetings for parents during the year for each of the three sports seasons, and he and Handley principal Michael Dufrene meet with each of the teams before each season.

Handley also sometimes brings in Winchester Public School officials — such as the superintendent, the finance director and the human resources director — to help promote a positive environment for its athletes.

“The expectations of a Judge are trust, respect, attitude, effort, courage and pride,” Lilly said. “We want open, honest and transparent conversations.”

While meetings with the teams always take place before the season, Lilly said he and Dufrene will meet with the teams during the season if necessary. Because of the Strasburg situation, Handley felt like it was important to meet with the winter sports teams again to emphasize the importance of being responsible.

Scott said he was glad the administration made a point of talking to the team.

“We teach our kids to treat everyone with respect, no matter what their age is,” Scott said. “It’s important to remember that everyone’s equal.”

Clarke County football coach Chris Parker said Clarke County not only verbally talks about the dangers of hazing, but posts visual reminders around the school too.

“I have an anti-bullying poster in my classroom,” Parker said. “We try to do the best we can as far as teaching what’s acceptable and what isn’t, and I think we do a good job of that.”

The importance of acting responsibly is why James Wood boys’ basketball coach Tim Wygant said Colonels activities coordinator Craig Woshner made all the sports programs aware of the situation at Strasburg when the allegations became public.

“When a situation like that happens at another school, you don’t want people gossiping about it,” Wygant said. “You also want the kids to know that they’re the eyes and the ears of our program. The coaches do what we can to monitor our athletes, but the athletes need to be reminded that if they see something inappropriate, they need to tell us, and we’ll take care of it.”

Millbrook coordinator of student activities Scott Mankins said when meetings are held with athletes and coaches before the season, it’s always stressed that communication is important.

“If something’s going on, let someone know,” Mankins said. “You can talk to me, a coach, a teacher, a teammate. Talk to someone you trust.”

While coaches are obviously going to be present at practices, the coaches interviewed for this story said they do everything they can to be present when athletes are together in the locker room, or when they’re waiting to be picked up from an event.

Mankins said that in general, coaches are taking it upon themselves to be more attentive when it comes to monitoring their athletes.

“When I coached, most coaches sat in the front seats on the bus,” said Mankins, who coached 25 years between Millbrook and James Wood before retiring in 2013. “On the way to a game, they want to talk about the upcoming game with each other, and on the way back, they want to wrap up the game and start looking ahead to the next game.

“But a lot of the coaches I talk to now say they spread their coaches throughout the bus so they can pay more attention to their players.”

Of course, monitoring athletes is a lot easier to do on school grounds or school property.

If members of a team choose to get together outside of the school without the coaches’ knowledge and without their presence, there’s not much a coach can do in those situations. And no matter how much you try to educate someone, some people will choose to ignore that education.

“We’ve got an AD [Jason Barbe] that meets with all of our athletes and all our teams for every sports season, and does a great job of presenting everything,” Martin said. “But regardless of what conditions you set, and the rules and regulations you cover, sometimes you’ll have a group of student athletes who are more susceptible to pushing the envelope in terms of hazing.

“Some people think of sports as some sort of secret society where people have to go through some sort of initiation to prove they belong, but anyone who thinks that is way off base in terms of what leadership is all about.”

While area coaches and officials said they’ve had to deal with various issues over the years that have required discipline, none of them approached the level of attention that the Strasburg boys’ basketball program is receiving.

No area officials or coaches mentioned they have decided to do anything radically different in the wake of the Strasburg allegations. But if they continue to do the things they’ve done so far, the hope is that they’ll not only avoid serious problems, but also provide an experience that will enrich their athletes’ lives.

“One of the most important things we emphasize is strength of character,” Wygant said. “I’m the father of two young boys (4 and 11/2), and I try to impart lessons and provide experiences that I would want my sons to have. We have a lot of young kids that sit behind our bench during games and look up to our players, and I want our players to set a good example for them.”

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