Hazing problems in sports
The practice of hazing takes place all over the world and seems to specifically target new recruits to sports teams. The huge problem with this practice is that it can cause a lot of issues for the person being hazed. Hazing is basically when senior members
of a team or a fraternity get together and harass, abuse, and, humiliate new recruits to a team in order to welcome them to the team.
Techniques of hazing range from things that are not too harmful to the bizarre and very humiliating. This degrading practice used to only be present in universities but it has spread from high school sports teams to even professional sports these days. With
many people trying to put a stop to this harmful practice, hopefully in the years to come we will see a complete end to hazing.
Hazing is a very old practice, there are really no records of when it first took place, but it seems to have started as a university practice. The legal definition of hazing is, “an abusive, often humiliating form of initiation into or affiliation with a
group, including any wilful action taken or situation created which recklessly or intentionally endangers the mental or physical health of another”.
The techniques used can be benign or very abusive. They have been known to range from drinking games, which can be relatively harmless to horrendous humiliating initiations and even sexual abuse. There are numerous examples of hazing from all around, but
why does this horrible practice take place even today.
Supporters of hazing say that it brings a team together very quickly. When new recruits to a sports team are placed in an established environment they either have to learn the rules of the group very quickly or force being alienated from the older members.
When harmless hazing incidents take place in a sports team it can sometimes help team mates to bond and become friends. If a new recruit is willing to do something humiliating for his or her team then the other members feel that when a very stressful and difficult
period occurs for the team, the new player will be able to handle the pressure and support the team.
There is a much darker side to hazing though, the side that can sometimes lead to criminal charges. It is not easy being a new member in a group, a lot of people feel serious anxiety and stress when asked to do something new. These feelings are only amplified
when the new membership comes with a heavy price.
A lot of people are shy and introverted and when they are forced to do very humiliating things to become part of a new team, it can sometimes lead to psychological problems and other issues for them. Experts say that abuse in any form is damaging even if
it is something non harmful and benign. Even though humiliation can destroy a person’s confidence levels, much more serious forms of abuse such as sexual abuse, can seriously injure a person and scar them for life.
There are numerous examples that can be found from all over. Rookie Sumo wrestlers are subject to severe hazing rituals and a few years ago a young new recruit was killed after receiving numerous beatings and having to endure several physical punishments.
An example of the more extreme form that hazing can take took place in 1999 during a baseball team’s road trip. The Raoul Wallenberg Traditional Alternative High School in California was the scene of this horrible act. The team was staying at a house with
a pool and several older team members had first thrown younger members of the team into the pool and then they had used coat hangers and other dangerous objects to sexual assault new members of the team. Three players were arrested, the coach was fired and
the team forfeited its season. This was one of the worst acts of hazing that a high school sports team had experienced. We have to remember here that these were children, hazing incidents with adults in college and professional sports teams have even resulted
in deaths and serious injuries over the years.
Even though sports governing bodies in high schools, colleges, and professional leagues have been very strongly policing incidents of hazing and setting up policies and procedures to end the practice, it still occurs even today all over the world. One day
the practice will hopefully end, but until then we will continue to hear of very sad incidents taking place because of this brutal practice.
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