Hazing 1n sports

> It’s all fun and games—until it isn't

Katie Czenczek
Staff Writer

 

t times, when sports team are left to
their own devices, horrifying events
can take place that would only seem to
belong in Lord of the Flies. In 2005 at
McGill University, 18-year-old D'Arcy
McKeown was sexually assaulted by his
fellow teammates with a broomstick,
under the guise of hazing. Asa result
of this very public and extreme version
of hazing, many Canadian colleges
and universities updated their codes of
conduct to ban hazing outright.

Hazing, taken from Douglas College’s
Student-Athlete Handbook, “is any action
or situation created by a member of
the College and/or the Royals Athletics
department against another individual(s),
for the purpose of affiliation with a
group or organization that is negligent
or reckless in nature, humiliates or
endangers an individual, or unreasonably
interferes with scholastic or employment
activities.” It is worth noting that it does
not matter if the victim who was hazed
gave consent or not, under Douglas’ policy.
Which brings us to the next question:
Why do teammates haze their fellow
teammates, and, in particular, rookies on
the team?

Often, when hazing occurs, it tends
to be considered a ‘rite of passage’ taken by
all novice players to truly belong to a team.
At least, that’s what my senior soccer team
in high school called it when they woke up
all of the new players and sprayed us with
silly string on a trip to Osoyoos. Hazing
can range from more innocent versions
like what I had experienced when I was
young to what McKeown experienced at
McGill University. More often than not,

hazing rituals are almost always occurring
alongside the presence of alcohol.

Interestingly enough, hazing actually
does more harm to team cohesiveness
than good, as found in a study conducted
by Van Raalte, Cornelius, Linder, and
Britton in 2007. The study revealed how
negative team bonding situations led
new players to feel less comfortable with
their teammates and to be less interested
in being a part of the team. Therefore,
making the claim that hazing actually
strengthens a team is false. That is why
it is overall just better to avoid hazing
your teammates if you want your team to
succeed during the season.

Douglas College’s policy on hazing is
similar to McGill University’s: They both
ban hazing and have clear guidelines for
how to report hazing and the measures
that will take place. However, the problem
is that many student athletes tend to not
feel comfortable saying what happened to
them. It is difficult to report what happens
to victims of hazing because of the
humiliating situations these people are put
into. “I don’t want that on my conscience
because I didn’t have the courage to speak
up,” said a student who came out ten years
after the 2005 McGill incident to report a
similar hazing experience, in a statement
to the Globe and Mail.

This indicates that the policy McGill
amended may have failed to stop hazing
from occurring, as many students before
McKeown were likely to not report their
experiences with hazing. Although he was
not the only one who experienced hazing
in 2015, he was the only student to come
forward.

Overall, hazing is an archaic and
outdated way to initiate new teammates.
It does nothing to help team bonding and
creates a toxic environment for everyone
involved.

(¥ Royals grab one point in tough weekOut
of the Blues
(¥ Royals rookies run the show

And more!

NHL stumbles in
foray to China

> Canucks and Kings fail to make
an impact in a new market

Greg Waldock
Staff Writer

 

The NHL found itself disappointing
fans early this September—before
the season even started—and not even
on the North American continent.

Ina unique move by the league,
they've agreed to play six games over
the course of eight years in China,
attempting to break into a new and
unfamiliar market. The first game,
between the Vancouver Canucks and
the LA Kings, drew just over 10,000
spectators, which is measly for a
North American game but impressive
for a country that only tangentially
participates in the KHL, Asia’s largest
hockey league. Despite the relatively
good numbers, the NHL ended up facing
criticism for an uninteresting match
fraught with minor infractions and slow
play, and a severe lack of advertising for
the game.

The league and China have been
eyeing each other for a while, both
making tentative steps into each other's
realms. The NHL aims to broaden
its horizons to an untapped market,
hoping to have at least affiliated league

   

branches in competition with the

KHL and to help encourage players to
join in for the upcoming 2022 Winter
Olympics, held in China. The attempt to
drum up enthusiasm for the sport both
internationally and within the NHL
itself received criticism mostly from
within the league itself, and players and
league members were disappointed with
the audience and the game.

The NHL has been coming down
hard on stick fouls, and it showed in
the last season. If this game is any sign,
it wont get any better when hockey
starts this year. The Canucks head
coach, Travis Green said: “The flow of
the game isn't what it normally is,” and
the crowd seemed to agree. By the end
of the game, after a full 17 power plays
between both teams, and a 5-2 win for
Los Angeles, much of the audience had
left. The game also received little or no
attention in the local press. Hopefully,
the NHL will change their approach
to international games in the future
(currently no NHL players are allowed
to go to the 2018 Olympics in Seoul,
and the upcoming 2017-2018 season will
not be accommodating it)—otherwise
they'll never break into Asia.

Photo via sportsnet.ca