Teen says coaches forced him to eat pork despite beliefs

[justabubba]

Teen says coaches forced him to eat pork despite beliefs

An attorney for an Ohio high school football player who says coaches forced him to eat pork in violation of his religious beliefs for missing a voluntary workout has announced plans to sue the school district.

www.startribune.com

... Canton McKinley head football coach Marcus Wattley and seven assistant coaches were suspended last week by the Canton City School District after the 17-year-old reported what happened to him on May 24, The Canton Repository reported.

Attorney Ed Gilbert said Tuesday that the teen and his family are members of the Hebrew Israeli religious faith and do not eat pork.

The teen, who skipped a voluntary workout four days earlier while nursing a sore shoulder, was ordered to sit in the middle of the gym and eat an entire pepperoni pizza, Gilbert said. He was allowed to remove the pepperoni and some of the cheese, but pork residue remained, Gilbert said.

The teen would have been subjected to additional drills and his status on the team might have been jeopardized if he had not followed Wattley's order, Gilbert said. ...

... the player told head coach Wattley at least 10 times that he did not eat pork because he and his family are members of the Hebrew Israeli religious faith, which strictly forbids the consumption of pork or pork residue. Gilbert said all the coaches should have known the player didn’t eat pork because he has been present during previous player meals. ...
If the player refused to eat the pizza, he was told that his teammates would be forced to perform additional drills ...

Canton McKinley High School football coaches to face further discipline, possible criminal charges

The coaches also could face criminal hazing charges after Canton police open an investigation.

www.cantonrep.com

they offered this kid (a 4.0 student, based on reader comments) a unique version of "Sophie's Choice":
violate his religious convictions;
or refuse and his coaches punish his team mates with additional calisthenic drills

what should be the outcome?

 

[Chomsky]

My gut feeling is this pizza thing is a regular discipline thing, and the coaches were niave in their having him remove the pepperoni.

Whether this type of discipline is appropriate or not, is a whole 'nother thing. But I dion't think there was animus in relation to the pork or the kid's religion.

 

[coco]

Muslim cant eat pork. It rolls around in the mud. Its dirty.

 

[RetiredUSN]

The coaches should all be fired immediately. Pork or not, they had no right to force the kid to eat anything, or publicly humiliate him by making his sit in the middle of a gym. They are in a position of leadership, but ended up using their position to cause harm.

I would have laughed in the coach's face and walked out.

I grew up around a lot of Jewish kids and I understand that various groups within the religion are fairly passive, but this kid needs to grow a pair also and never ever let himself be denigrated like this again by anyone.

 

[coco]

The coaches should all be fired immediately. Pork or not, they had no right to force the kid to eat anything, or publicly humiliate him by making his sit in the middle of a gym. They are in a position of leadership, but ended up using their position to cause harm.

I would have laughed in the coach's face and walked out.

I grew up around a lot of Jewish kids and I understand that various groups within the religion are fairly passive, but this kid needs to grow a pair also and never ever let himself be denigrated like this again by anyone.

Lets all grow a pair and defy all authority. What a great world it would be. Don't worry about 12 year old's with AK's , next it will be 5 year old's.

 

[RetiredUSN]

Lets all grow a pair and defy all authority. What a great world it would be. Don't worry about 12 year old's with AK's , next it will be 5 year old's.

The coach is a bully, and did not have any authority to bully a teenager.

Huge difference.

 

[lurchadams]

Teen says coaches forced him to eat pork despite beliefs

An attorney for an Ohio high school football player who says coaches forced him to eat pork in violation of his religious beliefs for missing a voluntary workout has announced plans to sue the school district.

www.startribune.com

Canton McKinley High School football coaches to face further discipline, possible criminal charges

The coaches also could face criminal hazing charges after Canton police open an investigation.

www.cantonrep.com

they offered this kid (a 4.0 student, based on reader comments) a unique version of "Sophie's Choice":
violate his religious convictions;
or refuse and his coaches punish his team mates with additional calisthenic drills

what should be the outcome?

Fire the coach. The parents have a great case to sue the school as well.

 

[Individual]

Fire the coach. The parents have a great case to sue the school as well.

Sue the coach, leave the school to discipline him, don't make taxpayers who had no part in what happened accountable.

 

[lurchadams]

Sue the coach, leave the school to discipline him, don't make taxpayers who had no part in what happened accountable.

Well, unfortunately that's not how life works.

 

[Individual]

Well, unfortunately that's not how life works.

So?

 

[Mr Person]

My gut feeling is this pizza thing is a regular discipline thing, and the coaches were niave in their having him remove the pepperoni.

Whether this type of discipline is appropriate or not, is a whole 'nother thing. But I dion't think there was animus in relation to the pork or the kid's religion.

They let him remove the pepperoni, which means he had to ask to remove it, which means that at the very least they knew as of then that he did not eat pork.

No, I don't think it's naivety....

 

[Chomsky]

They let him remove the pepperoni, which means he had to ask to remove it, which means that at the very least they knew as of then that he did not eat pork.

No, I don't think it's naivety....

No idea. But they did let him remove the pepperoni, so it seems they tried to accommodate his religious objection. I hate to defend this facet of this, but we need to know more to make an informed decision.

 

[swing_voter]

There's more to the story.

Eating pork isn't a punishment.

A punishment is doing 50 laps around the field.


.

 

[americanwoman]

What a strange punishment for missing a voluntary workout while injured- being forced to eat a whole pizza.

Where are people's common sense these days??

 

[justabubba]

i just received an email from the National Federation of High Schools, asking sports officials to post the following statement in social media. this seems like the appropriate thread:

What’s the number one priority of a high school football coach? Recruiting the best players? Running drills? Scoring touchdowns? Winning games?

No, it’s building the character of their players. That’s because high school football coaches are educators, mentors and role models first. They don’t just want to teach their players how to succeed in the game; they want to teach their players how to succeed in life.

there are eight coaches in a canton, ohio high school who failed to get that message

 

[coco]

The coach is a bully, and did not have any authority to bully a teenager.

Huge difference.

I got bullied, I got caned 10 times. I got sent to the focus room for 3 months 4 times. (actually that was fun) no lessons for three months. Lovely punishment.

 

[coco]

The coaches should all be fired immediately. Pork or not, they had no right to force the kid to eat anything, or publicly humiliate him by making his sit in the middle of a gym. They are in a position of leadership, but ended up using their position to cause harm.

I would have laughed in the coach's face and walked out.

I grew up around a lot of Jewish kids and I understand that various groups within the religion are fairly passive, but this kid needs to grow a pair also and never ever let himself be denigrated like this again by anyone.

I enjoyed my punishment.

 

[Mr Person]

Eating pork isn't a punishment.

Did you miss the part where his religion forbids it?



At any rate, the punishment wasn't simply "eat pork", it was eat an entire large pepperoni pizza. And while I could put a whole one away at that age, it's still a massive meal. Many people would find it quite unpleasant.

 

[WillyPete]

They let him remove the pepperoni, which means he had to ask to remove it, which means that at the very least they knew as of then that he did not eat pork.

No, I don't think it's naivety....

At a guess, removing the peperoni may have been acceptable to the student in the moment, but when the parents heard the tale things escalated.

It seems like a bad "tradition" that should have been jettisoned some time ago. I very much doubt you'll find forced feeding in your mainstream school discipline texts.

I had a similar experience recently myself, where I received a minor injury that was partially my fault. I had chalked it up as a life lesson, but when I described it to my parents later they instantly landed on lawsuit.

 

[Mr Person]

At a guess, removing the peperoni may have been acceptable to the student in the moment, but when the parents heard the tale things escalated.

It seems like a bad "tradition" that should have been jettisoned some time ago. I very much doubt you'll find forced feeding in your mainstream school discipline texts.

I had a similar experience recently myself, where I received a minor injury that was partially my fault. I had chalked it up as a life lesson, but when I described it to my parents later they instantly landed on lawsuit.

The pizza thing and the pork thing are different.

Force-feeding is a pretty shit way to discipline someone, but the pork thing is on top. I have trouble believing there is anyone out there - apart from some isolated deep-woods types - who don't know that certain religions forbid certain foods. Even if the coach didn't know at first, he knew

And again...force-feeding seems wrong.



As for it blowing up more when the parents find out, that may simply be an indication that adults are more comfortable standing up to authority when it is wrong than are children, who are generally (often?) conditioned to respect authority.....or at least, that's what adults try to do. That is, that the child did not straight-up refuse is likely more of a reflection of a feeling that he could not refuse rather than an acceptance of the punishment as legitimate.