ENTIRE FB Team Suspended for Bullying - EARN Right To Play

New Posts

M

MsFacetious

What a Kerfuffle...
Joined
Jun 2, 2010
Messages
21,624
Reaction score
33,020
This is more of a happy story than many posted here.
This is AWESOME. :seeya:


http://www.deseretnews.com/article/...-football-team-in-lesson-about-character.html

It's been an unusual week of practice for Union High School's football team.

They've pulled weeds. They've cleaned school hallways and washed windows. They've spent time visiting with residents at two long-term care facilities.

It might not be what one would typically expect from a team with a 3-2 record heading into its homecoming game Friday.

However, it's exactly what head coach Matt Labrum said he wants to see.

"We're still practicing, but we're practicing on some different skills," Labrum said.

Labrum knew that a few of his players were struggling with academic issues and attitude problems this season. Then, last week the coaches learned that a Cougar player or two might have used the social media website *** to anonymously engage in cyber-bullying. The target was a Union student who is not on the team.

-----------------

"We were looking at football as a right, rather than a privilege," Labrum said.

"We were pretty open with (our team) about what we'd heard," he said. "We don't want that represented in our program. … Whoever it is (bullying another student), we want to help get them back on the right path."

--------------------

A vote would be held to elect new captains. Players would perform acts of service for their families and document what they'd done. They would also take part in two days of community service in lieu of regular practices, attend a mandatory character-education class, a study hall session and memorize and recite a paragraph-long quote about the value of having good character.

-------------------

Labrum said he met Monday with the student who had been bullied and offered an apology on behalf his team.

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=26993261&ni...rned-with-service&fm=home_page&s_cid=queue-15
 
After an emotionally exhausting five days, Union High head football coach Matt Labrum struggled Wednesday to grasp exactly what the early morning caller was asking of him.

“CNN called my cellphone at 7 a.m.,” said Labrum, who has spoken with reporters from all over the country since the Deseret News and KSL first reported about his staff's decision to suspend their program's 41 varsity and junior varsity players for bad behavior ranging from skipping classes to cyberbullying.

“I don’t know how they got my number," he said, "but they wanted to know if I would talk to Anderson Cooper today.”

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=27006497&ni...for-suspensions&fm=home_page&s_cid=featured-1
 
Kudos to the coach for doing the right thing! So many schools and parents put sports first AND think the players should be untouchable.
 
*APPLAUSE*

So many times it's said that sports teaches leadership. Well, here is a case of a coach who really is teaching leadership... by leading.

Hope the boys on the team take something valuable away from this.
 
I am outraged by this.

Actually, the person doing the bullying here is the coach. There are 41 boys on this team, and of those a couple "maybe" had engaged in making anonymous comments online about another kid. And contrary to popular opinion, the average athlete is no more a bully than any other average kid.

So, the response of this "coach" is to punish everyone for something that most and possible all of them had nothing to do with. Way to go coach.

Now, to carry on playing these kids have to humiliate themselves and be publicly branded as sociopaths, all in the name of building "character". That is the exact same language that people defending bullying use, so how is this any different? Does he not see the irony in what he is doing or does he simply not get it?

If someone does something wrong, punish them, and if you can't prove it, do NOT go rounding up all their neighbors and punishing them instead. That is just immoral.

As to what message these kids are getting, I can't speak for them, but personally, when I was a kid, we occasionally had teachers and what not "build character" by punishing everyone when they couldn't figure out who the guilty were. The usual result was to create significant bitterness and general contempt for authority among the student body. Naturally this was not expressed openly for fear of provoking official retribution, but it was always the consequence.

No doubt most of these kids will jump through whatever hoops he wants them to jump through since they just want to play football, but if he thinks he is somehow "building character" he is sadly delusional, it will have quite the opposite effect. He is creating anger and resentment in kids where those emotions might not have existed before. Personally, if I had been on that team, I would have refused to continue playing and let him coach an empty field.

If he really wanted to build character in his team the way to do would be to have a component of social involvement as a requirement for participation in the team, and not to link it to specific anti-social activities as a form of indiscriminate punishment.
 
Playing football is a privilege not a right.
 
You approve of punishing people for things they didn't do, based on stereotypes?

What this coach is doing is totally wrong and immoral.

Btw, OT, the Hood went down with one shot IIRC, so it was not all that mighty :)
 
I hope other schools around the country take notice and follow his example. It's so refreshing to hear a positive story about a coach actually enforcing a code of conduct. Coach of the year in my book. This is a fantastic lesson for these students.
 
I told this story to my DH and he said they need to teach some of this discipline to the colleges and Pro teams as well.

If I recall Football is still a team sport, when one errors the whole team falls. So in mis-judgement of players the same thing should happen.

I would whether see a coach teaching a lesson like this than just yelling and screaming at his team. I think the team will appreciate and respect the coach for this lesson.

I had a brother who played football as well as 2 sons, and now 3 grandsons. I very well know the behaviors that coaches can display as well as teammates.

Yay! For this Coach and the administration as well as the parents for standing behind him.

In my opinion these are Life Lesson's!
 
Kudos to the coach. He wasn't punishing his team, he was teaching them about what makes a good human being and team player. He used his practice time to have the entire team work to earn their spots back on the team.

Last I heard, about 9 members weren't coming back and I have a feeling they won't be missed.

As a teacher, I was frequently harassed, verbally abused, and physically intimidated by members of various sports teams both in class and out. The results when I reported them to the administration/coaches? Zip, nada, excuses.

Just two examples:

A star athlete spent 50 minutes sitting on a bench cursing and screaming at me. I couldn't leave my post. The principal walked by, observed the behavior. He told me not to worry, it wasn't personal. The kid was "hyped" for the big game Saturday.

I walked into my classroom and barely missed a flying desk thrown at me by a star pitcher. Response? "What did you do to get him so upset?"

One reason I retired early!
 
Tugela said:
I am outraged by this.

Actually, the person doing the bullying here is the coach. There are 41 boys on this team, and of those a couple "maybe" had engaged in making anonymous comments online about another kid. And contrary to popular opinion, the average athlete is no more a bully than any other average kid.

So, the response of this "coach" is to punish everyone for something that most and possible all of them had nothing to do with. Way to go coach.

Now, to carry on playing these kids have to humiliate themselves and be publicly branded as sociopaths, all in the name of building "character". That is the exact same language that people defending bullying use, so how is this any different? Does he not see the irony in what he is doing or does he simply not get it?

If someone does something wrong, punish them, and if you can't prove it, do NOT go rounding up all their neighbors and punishing them instead. That is just immoral.

As to what message these kids are getting, I can't speak for them, but personally, when I was a kid, we occasionally had teachers and what not "build character" by punishing everyone when they couldn't figure out who the guilty were. The usual result was to create significant bitterness and general contempt for authority among the student body. Naturally this was not expressed openly for fear of provoking official retribution, but it was always the consequence.

No doubt most of these kids will jump through whatever hoops he wants them to jump through since they just want to play football, but if he thinks he is somehow "building character" he is sadly delusional, it will have quite the opposite effect. He is creating anger and resentment in kids where those emotions might not have existed before. Personally, if I had been on that team, I would have refused to continue playing and let him coach an empty field.

If he really wanted to build character in his team the way to do would be to have a component of social involvement as a requirement for participation in the team, and not to link it to specific anti-social activities as a form of indiscriminate punishment.
Click to expand...
Immoral my azz!..and as far as stereotyping goes it doesn't even play a role in what's going on at this particular school, regarding the above issue being reported.

Its the head coach, himself who has taken the initiative to atleast attempt to correct bad behaviors and poor choices by enforcing consequences..(and it goes far beyond just the issue of bullying that members of his team were engaging in/involved with).

The head coach of this football team is taking the bull by the horns and attempting to rein in members of his team for a variety of reasons with bullying being merely one of the reasons..

It unfortunately is a fact that many schools handle their varsity football teams with an inappropriate sense of their being above all other students and play by a completely different set of rules than what the rest of the student body must play by.. This is seen time and again(inappropriate boundaryLESS terms for some school's athletic players) with there being severe repercussions as a result.

Regarding the issue of this coach choosing to approach this as an entire team matter, rather than an each, individual player matter to be handled separately, IMO IS APPROPRIATE, FITTING, AS WELL AS MAKES SENSE..

It makes sense due to the fact that football is a team sport..not an individual sport.. The working as a team is one of the first, as well as most important points that is addressed to a team by their coach.. It is the team mentality that is continually drilled into the players throughout the season and is a key point in maintaining in order to be a successful, winning team.

So, ESPECIALLY in these particular circumstances it is appropriate for it to be handled as all things are handled for a football team..as a team matter.

While, in your experience you say that this type of approach was inappropriate, failed, and produced only negative results.. That is your opinion on your situation, but is in no way indicative of how other circumstances are effective in this approach.. This approach has been every bit effective and brought about a sense of accountability by those who were guilty of the behavior/action that the group as a whole were having to face the consequences for.. It wasn't bitterness toward authority, but rather it was appropriately placed disappointment in your fellow team mates who engaged in the negative actions/behaviors..

This exact type of accountability between the team mates was way more impactful to those guilty of the actions/behaviors.. whereas when being punished individually by the authority figure did not have near the impact, and therefor not near as effective..

There are a myriad of issues regarding this football team's negative behaviors/ actions/ attitude, etc, etc.. Again, bullying is but only one.. The fact there are numerous negative issues is what led to the drastic consequence they as a team were made to face.. Football is based upon and grounded fully in the mentality of being a team.. They work as a team.. They act as a team.. They are rewarded as a team, and as we see here in this instance they so, too are punished as a team..

The fact that negative behaviors are receiving negative consequences is something I find to be more than appropriate and IMO this coach should be commended for enforcing his team being held accountable for their negative actions/behaviors..

Jmo.
 
The report clearly states that it was one or two players who *might* have engaged in inappropriate comments. Again, there was no evidence they actually did it, in other words his conclusions were based on rumours. This is what bullies do.

The suspension was specifically for this incident.

This kind of indiscriminate punishment (and it is punishment, not matter how much sugar you want to coat it with) will bind the team together, but not in the way you imagine. It will bind them in contempt for authority and due process, that is the message these kids are receiving and are going to carry on into their future lives.

If you are trying to teach people to do the right thing, you don't do it by punishing the innocent.
 
A vote would be held to elect new captains. Players would perform acts of service for their families and document what they'd done. They would also take part in two days of community service in lieu of regular practices, attend a mandatory character-education class, a study hall session and memorize and recite a paragraph-long quote about the value of having good character."

Oh, those poor poor children.

Outrage, indeed. Pfffft.

IMO, responsibility for a great deal of the problems faced by today's youth lies squarely in the laps of the Outrage Squad who jump up and down squealing about injustice every time someone who is charged with teaching our children attempts to do so.
 
Tugela said:
You approve of punishing people for things they didn't do, based on stereotypes?

What this coach is doing is totally wrong and immoral.

Btw, OT, the Hood went down with one shot IIRC, so it was not all that mighty :)
Click to expand...

Going back and reading the article, you are 1000% correct. There were issues with some of the team members skipping classes and such, but zero evidence linking them to the alleged bullying. Why is it all of a sudden really bad to be a hs football player :(

eta: zero evidence linking ANY of them, much less ALL of them to the alleged bullying

etaa: another interesting thing is the compliance or peaceful noncompliance of the football players to this extremely unjustified treatment and the absence of their parents up in the face of the media and with lawsuits whining about how unfair it is. Guarantee the little chit who is alleging to have been bullied on ask.com (why didn't his parents know about this account and the supposed bullying) will be all over the legal issues here in a week or two, if not already. jmo
 
Hejlena said:
A vote would be held to elect new captains. Players would perform acts of service for their families and document what they'd done. They would also take part in two days of community service in lieu of regular practices, attend a mandatory character-education class, a study hall session and memorize and recite a paragraph-long quote about the value of having good character."

Oh, those poor poor children.

Outrage, indeed. Pfffft.

IMO, responsibility for a great deal of the problems faced by today's youth lies squarely in the laps of the Outrage Squad who jump up and down squealing about injustice every time someone who is charged with teaching our children attempts to do so.
Click to expand...


BBM.

Amen.
 
And it is that belief and his passion for the game that led the Union High School head football coach and his staff to suspend all 41 players from the team because of off-field problems ranging from cyberbullying to skipping classes.

------------------------

“We were pretty open with (the players) about what we’d heard. We don’t want that represented in our program. … Whoever it is (doing the bullying), we want to help get them back on the right path.”

But there were other issues that concerned the coaches, including failing and skipping classes and showing disrespect to teachers.

“It had gotten to a new level,” said Labrum. “We felt like we weren’t respecting the teachers, what they were trying to do inside the school, other people’s time. Overall, our program wasn’t going where we wanted it to go. We weren’t reaching the young men like we wanted to reach them.”

So they stopped playing football and started discussing character.

----------------------

The players were told they also need to show up on time and attend all of their classes. And those with bad grades were told they must show improvement if they wanted to play.

-----------------------

“I still have the love for it and everything,” he said Monday while leaning on a shovel he was using to remove weeds as part of his community service. “But it helped me realize, it’s not all about football.”

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/...ball-team-in-lesson-about-character.html?pg=3


Labrum knew that a few of his players were struggling with academic issues and attitude problems this season. Then, last week the coaches learned that a Cougar player or two might have used the social media website ***** to anonymously engage in cyber-bullying. The target was a Union student who is not on the team.

"It just felt like everything was going in a direction that we didn't want our young men going," Labrum said. "We felt like we needed to make a stand."

------------------

Finally, they had to pledge to be to all practices on time, to demonstrate respect for their teachers, fellow students and members of the community and to maintain their grades.

------------------

"It is not a punishment," Rook said. "I look at it as an opportunity to do some good in the community and it's a good way to learn a life lesson."

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=26993261&ni...rned-with-service&fm=home_page&s_cid=queue-15


I am still failing to see the negative side of this. It worked. They get it.
Just saying "You need to be nice and bring your grades up" wouldn't have worked.
They needed to show them that they were serious by suspending them.

I'm tired of players getting away with things because they are needed to win a game.
These coaches proved that their priority is who these young men will be, not who wins the next game. :twocents:
 
MsFacetious said:
And it is that belief and his passion for the game that led the Union High School head football coach and his staff to suspend all 41 players from the team because of off-field problems ranging from cyberbullying to skipping classes.

------------------------

“We were pretty open with (the players) about what we’d heard. We don’t want that represented in our program. … Whoever it is (doing the bullying), we want to help get them back on the right path.”

But there were other issues that concerned the coaches, including failing and skipping classes and showing disrespect to teachers.

“It had gotten to a new level,” said Labrum. “We felt like we weren’t respecting the teachers, what they were trying to do inside the school, other people’s time. Overall, our program wasn’t going where we wanted it to go. We weren’t reaching the young men like we wanted to reach them.”

So they stopped playing football and started discussing character.

----------------------

The players were told they also need to show up on time and attend all of their classes. And those with bad grades were told they must show improvement if they wanted to play.

-----------------------

“I still have the love for it and everything,” he said Monday while leaning on a shovel he was using to remove weeds as part of his community service. “But it helped me realize, it’s not all about football.”

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/...ball-team-in-lesson-about-character.html?pg=3


Labrum knew that a few of his players were struggling with academic issues and attitude problems this season. Then, last week the coaches learned that a Cougar player or two might have used the social media website ***** to anonymously engage in cyber-bullying. The target was a Union student who is not on the team.

"It just felt like everything was going in a direction that we didn't want our young men going," Labrum said. "We felt like we needed to make a stand."

------------------

Finally, they had to pledge to be to all practices on time, to demonstrate respect for their teachers, fellow students and members of the community and to maintain their grades.

------------------

"It is not a punishment," Rook said. "I look at it as an opportunity to do some good in the community and it's a good way to learn a life lesson."

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=26993261&ni...rned-with-service&fm=home_page&s_cid=queue-15


I am still failing to see the negative side of this. It worked. They get it.
Just saying "You need to be nice and bring your grades up" wouldn't have worked.
They needed to show them that they were serious by suspending them.

I'm tired of players getting away with things because they are needed to win a game.
These coaches proved that their priority is who these young men will be, not who wins the next game. :twocents:
Click to expand...

Thanks MsFacetious for taking the time to copy, paste, and post the numerous articles that clearly state that there were in fact numerous negative behaviors/actions on the part of the players.. There isn't just one negative incident that led to this coach's decision, but rather it is the fact that there are myriad of negative actions/behaviors/attitudes/etc.

IMO this particular situation is yet only another example of the fact that this type of consequence is effective.. I've seen exactly how this type of situation with members of a team as a whole facing consequences due to the acts of some.. It does create a sense of accountability between the team mates, who especially at that age and in a situation such as this, are more affected by accountability to their teammates than they are by an authority figure(ie.teachers, coaches, other school staff)..

Again thanks for taking the time to gather the various articles/quotes, and post them all here In this thread:hug:

**Please forgive the limitations that come w/my posting via mobile ATM**
 
This reminds me of what the coach did in the movie Coach Carter which is based on a real story.
 
Five members of the Union High School football team are expected to face charges in juvenile court after they were caught with a sixth teen vandalizing a fence in Vernal, according to police.

------------------------

The incident comes exactly one month after Union's football coaches made national headlines for suspending all players on the school's varsity and junior varsity squads to teach them a lesson about character.

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=27351822&ni...wide-suspension&fm=home_page&s_cid=featured-1
 
MsFacetious said:
Five members of the Union High School football team are expected to face charges in juvenile court after they were caught with a sixth teen vandalizing a fence in Vernal, according to police.

------------------------

The incident comes exactly one month after Union's football coaches made national headlines for suspending all players on the school's varsity and junior varsity squads to teach them a lesson about character.

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=27351822&ni...wide-suspension&fm=home_page&s_cid=featured-1
Click to expand...

Doesn't look like his plan worked.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

DNASolves

Who is Escambia County John Doe (1989)?

Members online

... and 170 more.
Total: 1,592 (members: 171, guests: 1,421)

Online statistics

Members online
171
Guests online
1,421
Total visitors
1,592
Totals may include hidden visitors.

Forum statistics

Threads
591,801
Messages
17,959,078
Members
228,607
Latest member
wdavewong
Back
Top