Has sports hazing gone too far?

Every year, millions of high school and college students try out for sports teams in the hope of become part of something great. They sacrifice their time, energy and social life to make the team. But some of them don’t understand, until later that is, that try-outs don’t always end when the last cut is made and the final team roster is posted. In recent years, an old, but very much alive problem has resurfaced in sports – the humiliation and victimizing of rookie athletes through hazing rituals.

When people think about sports hazing, they think about athletes being forced to binge drink or being physically beaten. Some even think about the incident in upstate New York that made national headlines in 2008.

According to court papers, on a mid-April day on a bus ride back to Wilson County from a baseball game in Niagara Falls, the Junior Varsity players, then eighth graders who were 14 years old were dragged to the rear by a varsity player and sexually assaulted in the aisle. Three varsity players and two coaches faced charges related to the incident.

So what exactly is hazing?

A rather large assortment of definitions exists for the term “hazing” because it is a broad term covering a variety of situations.

US Legal Definitions defines hazing “as an abusive, often humiliating form of initiation into or affiliation with a group, including: Any willful action taken or situation created which recklessly or intentionally endangers the mental or physical health of another.”

Whatever definition you choose, the problem lies in the reality that many believe that initiation and hazing are two separate things, and that initiation is okay even though in many situations it constitutes hazing. But while not all initiation involves hazing, all hazing is done as an initiation, so there is no real difference between the two.

Whatever the hazing methods and types, many sports teams using hazing to put the freshman in their place or to continue a tradition which has been going on for years.

How bad is the problem?

An Alfred University study revealed that eight out of ten athletes have been hazed during college; more than five out of every ten athletes has been subjected to some form of hazing during high school; and at least one out of every twenty athletes facts acts of hazing during their middle school years.

While these statistics are staggering, what is more shocking is that the numbers are probably much worse because many fail to report incidents of hazing because of embarrassment, fear of repercussion, feelings of guilt, or the idea that hazing is an acceptable way to welcome new members onto a team. Many even say that hazing has brought them closer to their teammates. What do you think? Can hazing ever be a good thing? Have you ever been a victim? Share your thoughts below!