CB West coach: Hazing was 'isolated incident'
Hours before a Central Bucks school board meeting where parents will undoubtedly demand to know more about alleged hazing at a family football picnic, the Central Bucks West head football coach said Tuesday he hopes it was a "one-time, isolated incident" and that the players are "inherently good young men."
Hours before a Central Bucks school board meeting where parents will undoubtedly demand to know more about alleged hazing at a family football picnic, the Central Bucks West head football coach said Tuesday he hopes it was a "one-time, isolated incident" and that the players are "inherently good young men."
In a statement released by his attorney, coach Brian Hensel said the Aug. 16 hazing - which has been described as players groping the private parts of other fully-clothed players - occurred around 1 p.m. for about 20 minutes in a locker room.
His statement came hours before the Central Bucks School Board hosts its first public meeting since the hazing allegations prompted district officials last week to cancel the rest of the team's football season.
Hensel, a teacher in his sixth season as the Bucks coach, said he was not at the August picnic and said many other coaches departed after a scrimmage against Abington and the post-game wrap up. The parent-sponsored picnic ran from noon to 12:30 p.m.
The alleged incident occurred almost two hours after the scrimmage, he wrote in the statement released to the media by lawyer Marc Neff, who represents members of the teachers association.
Superintendent David Weitzel has suspended the coaching staff and is investigating an alleged on-going lack of supervision of the team. Police are investigating the incident.
"The notion that my coaching staff fostered a culture whereby lack of supervision and hazing was an ongoing norm is not just unfair, but patently false," Hensel's statement said.
He also said that if hazing was an ongoing part of the culture at the school the coaches would have stopped it immediately.
Though the district said an activity the students referred to as "waterboarding" occurred - described as wrapping a towel around a players head and putting them in the shower - Hensel said there was no waterboarding. It was unclear if he was referring to the actual torture technique or the students' soaking.
Players who participated in the hazing "did so without thinking it was serious or harmful to their teammates . . They had no malicious intent to hurt others. To my knowledge, they have accepted the punishment handed to them with maturity and respect for those who levied it.
"As an educator, I believe that learning is a lifelong pursuit, and that mistakes provide some of life's most important lessons. I think there are many lessons for all parties involved in this past week's events," he said. "I certainly have learned from this and I know my fellow coaches, our players, their parents and district officials have too..."
The Bucks County District Attorney's Office requests that the parents of any child in the Central Bucks West Football Program whose child experienced hazing activities which adversely affected the child's physical health or safety or which subjected the child to inappropriate mental stress or embarrassment contact the Office at (215)348-6345 or by email at dwheckler@co.bucks.pa.us.
610-313-8232
@kathyboccella