Richie Incognito (above) has been accused of "bullying" his teammate Johnathan Martin
One would associate bullying as a problem that is felt primarily in the lives of young children and teenagers but it has recently found its way into an unexpected place, the NFL. By now you have probably heard of the story of Miami Dolphin’s offensive lineman Jonathan Martins departure from his team due to excessive bullying from his teammates. Some call it bullying and others may call it “hazing” which is an accepted norm in most professional and colligate sports. Veteran players will often haze younger players in order to toughen it up. In this case, it lead to a player quitting the sport he loves to play and this example raises the question, does bulling/hazing contribute to a dysfunctional society?
Because it is an accepted practice in most sports, bullying or hazing could find its way into high school sports. This can be even more detrimental because high school students are very vulnerable at that point of their lives. Perhaps bullying may lead to something more severe than a player quitting their sport. As bullying becomes more of a problem in high school, there have been many cases of a drop in school performance, depression, and in some cases, suicide. If it is socially acceptable to haze or bully teammates, will the effects of bullying be magnified in high school sports?
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