By Caitlin Morrissey ’16

One year after a hazing scandal rocked the Sayreville War Memorial High School football season, all those affiliated with high school sports, either as an athletic director, athlete, coach or manager are still reeling from the chilling facts revealed in the case. In the wake of such gorrifying events, one question still lingers: what truly constitutes hazing and where the line is drawn between team tradition and abuse?

At West Essex, several successful athletic programs are built upon their specific traditions. They are what create bonds between players and formulate team identities.Part of that team camaraderie, historically, is built on the idea of paying your dues. Freshmen team members are usually seen carrying heavy ball bags every day, to and from practice, or must get an enormous jug of water for the entire team before warm-ups, regardless of when practice or that day’s game starts, or what their other obligations are for school or other activities. It is their job, and if they don’t do it right, there’s a problem.  

“As a freshman, I had to carry the heaviest ball bags ever. I was the only one, so obviously it was my job, but I accepted it and never complained. I saw it as a ‘rite of passage’. It’s a part of being a team,” senior lacrosse player Skyler Simson said.  

Seniors and juniors only feel this way because they had to do the same things. The same jobs, the same time restraints and had to respect the same demanding upperclassmen. So, it’s only normal to assume that as we get older, and as we move up the totem poles on our teams, our laborious responsibilities lessen and our moral and performance responsibilities become greater.

The universal treatment of freshmen, in all sports, is justified under the assumption that all players have undergone similar “experiences.” It is through this seemingly continuous routine and accepted practice that our feelings as freshmen are forgotten, and the emotions of our current freshmen are neglected.  

“I hate having to go get the cages on and off the field everyday and I have to carry a ball bag filled with more than 50 balls,”  freshman field hockey player Julia Vardiman said.  

The events that occurred in the locker room at Sayreville High School are considered extreme cases of hazing. They are felonies and are usually never seen in most athletic programs. But smaller cases of hazing may be considered as giving freshmen players the responsibility of carrying balls for the whole season, or making the underclassmen perform an important team tradition.  

In the case of the 2012 women’s lacrosse team at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., an optional team bonding activity, which included an egg race, a whipped cream pie-eating contest and the creation of “inappropriate” shirts, was ruled as hazing by the college’s administration. Their 2012 campaign was cut short and the seniors on the team were suspended from other campus activities for the remainder of the year. Their coach, Lauren Paul, who led the team to a national championship three years before the claims to hazing arose, was fired.  

“Our team has a very tight knit bond,” head girls soccer coach Coach Decker said. “I attribute that to the fact that no matter what grade level of the player makes the team they are all treated like equals. The team rotates duties for equipment, pairs up with players in drills of different ages, among other things. As a coach, I think it is important to instill those values right in the beginning, that way the standard is set. If a young player feels comfortable among the older players, I think that will bring out the best in them,” In order to find a solution to this vague issue, West Essex student-athletes believe that simple communication can be the answer.  

According to business consultant Bruce Tuckman, ”All teams will go through expected stages of development, from forming to storming to ‘norming,’ and eventually, performing, and navigating through these stages effectively will help teams build relationships.” These relationships will create strong relationships that will foster more appreciation for their teammates as people, undefined by their year in school.

“Being more cognizant of how underclassmen feel can definitely help in defining what hazing truly is,” said senior soccer player Michelle Inga.  “We don’t always know what really is going on in their life, so if we just simply ask, ‘what’s up?’ and “is everything O.K.?’ every once in awhile, they can probably feel more appreciated, and therefore begin to find value in their positions.”