Buffalo Boy's Blog

The recent incident on the Wilson High School Baseball team had everyone talking this past week and as a future teacher and educator I listened and now its my turn to throw my two cents in.

I agree that there has to be consequences and if the coaches had to be suspended so be it that has to be done. The boys who did the hazing should be punished but not necessarily in the way that it is being handled.

There is a way of doing it so that these boys and all involved learn a valuable lesson about sportsmanship, behavior, and team sports in general.

I coach swimming and to say the least, I can count the number of issues amongst my athletes on one hand. I have been involved with the sport for almost twenty years as a swimmer and as a coach and again from my days as an athlete, I could count problems on one hand.

Maybe its the environment or maybe its the level of training the coaches at the respecitve sports receive. Part of the training for swim coaches and our continuing education is a age group sports psychology in which we are given ideas for teaching kids life skills and ways to cope with things in the sport and various psychological issues that may come up with athletes.

One of those things is how to treat your peers. I agree with the coaches being suspended but the students who did this should recieve a different punishment, one in which they are given the opportunity to learn from their mistakes.

They were seniors and they have already done damage to any hopes of playing college ball and thats besides the point for them at this time, however, one thing that they should have to do is watch the teammates that they hazed take their spots in the starting lineup. Don't punish the group for the actions of a few. All you are teaching is that the innocent are guilty as well.

The two boys should have to meet with school counselors after school instead of playing and for the games? They should have to attend and serve as bat boys/equipment managers and should be forced to watch their teammates play.

I don't think the answer is to cancel a season for the ones who were innocent. The kids who did step up and report this should be commended for doing the right thing showing the courage to do what is right despite what their peers may think.

We still don't know the extent of what happened on the bus but what ever it was, to have the level of involvement of the police and law enforcement it must have been pretty bad, at the same time, there has to be some faith in the school to handle the situation as well.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out and if they can have enough trust to reinstate the baseball team next year. As a coach, I know high schoo, middle school or elementary school, you have to keep a watch on your atheletes because they will get into trouble at times if not watched and expectations are not set, these two coaches obviously failed to manage this team appropriately.