Athletes' anti-bullying club at Cherry Hill East is a model

David Golkow, 16, figures he has been on athletic teams since he was 4 and involved in sports since he can remember. He says he's never been bullied, but over the years, he's heard hurtful things said to others. He's an admirer of former Eagles star DeSean Jackson and the work Jackson's foundation has done to combat bullying.

But then, in the summer before his sophomore year, David discovered Bully, a wrenching documentary about the abuse some children face.

An idea took root.

"I thought, 'Who better than athletes in school and in the community to step up and help stop bullying?' " said David, a basketball guard, baseball pitcher, and third baseman.

Today, David, a junior, is founder and president of Athletes Against Bullying, a club at Cherry Hill East High School that teaches athletes to be positive role models and help raise awareness about bullying. In the spring, the group started with about 13 students and had its first training session. This month, the students plan to have their second training, with Vince Papale, the former Eagle who inspired the movie Invincible, tentatively scheduled to speak.

The club is up to 60 members and growing. "We now represent every single team at East," David said.

The students took the ball and ran with it, but their elders, including East principal Lawyer Chapman, gave their support.

The club is an outstanding effort, Chapman said. "I like the creativity and the initiative that the students are taking. I am 100 percent in support." Even though the club is all athletes, Chapman said, "the larger student body is aware because these students have friends. They make every effort to publicize what they are doing."

During last month's Week of Respect, club members handed out Popsicle sticks with messages calling on their fellow students to do various, random acts of kindness, such as holding a door for someone or saying hello to someone they didn't know.

In July, an essay David wrote about the club got him honored as an extraordinary scholar at a Phillies game and got the club noticed. The local Cherry Hill Alliance on Drug and Alcohol Abuse has provided some funding.

Jason Speller, a coach and physical education teacher at East, was quick to agree to become club adviser when David approached him about a year ago.

"As he explained to me why he was starting the club and how he felt about the topic, I could easily tell that he was passionate about what he was speaking of, so I decided to support him in his cause," Speller said. "One, because of his passion, and, two, because as a former athlete myself, I knew how serious the topic was."

New Jersey has what many people say is the strongest anti-bullying law in the country, signed by Gov. Christie not long after the 2010 suicide of Rutgers freshman Tyler Clementi, whose roommate secretly taped him kissing another man and posted it online.

The law requires schools to report bullying incidents, teach students and train staff about bullying, and designate an anti-bullying specialist.

East's specialist is guidance counselor Jennifer DiStefano, who said the school and district had several anti-bullying, character-building initiatives.

Given recent incidents at other schools' sports programs such as the hazings at Sayreville High School, she said, Athletes Against Bullying is timely.

"It's a really good time to have something the kids are invested in," DiStefano said.

It's too soon to predict the club's eventual impact on the larger school community, but she said that when a popular school athlete comes out against bullying, freshmen are likely to absorb the message.

Club members interviewed said they all had witnessed what they considered bullying during their athletic careers.

"I've seen it on almost every sports team I've ever been on," David said.

He hasn't seen physical bullying. More often, he said, it's verbal harassment, the kind of joking that crosses the line into insult and hurt.

Adam Davis, 16, a club vice president who plays varsity lacrosse, said that when David, a friend since first grade, approached him about the club, he was quick to join.

In elementary though middle school, he played community basketball. "I used to be the weak kid on the team," he said.

One of the coaches would make discouraging, hurtful comments that may have been meant to motivate him but that over time had the opposite effect.

"It made me feel sad, angry, embarrassed," the junior said. "I eventually stopped playing basketball because of it."

But he didn't give up athletics.

"I made it my mission to be good at lacrosse," he said. "I've started every year since freshman year."

Jon Rosen, 17, another club vice president, who plays basketball, said he remembered that when his older brother was elementary-school age, he got bullied about his difficulty reading in class because of his dyslexia.

Lee Rosen-Swell, 17, another club officer, who plays basketball and soccer, said he had been in sports since he was young. Like his fellow members, he would like to see the club grow not only in membership but also reach.

They've talked about possibly helping to start a chapter at Cherry Hill High School West, and they would like to spread their anti-bullying message to district middle schools - and maybe beyond.

Said David: "We hope to expand to the greater community in all of Cherry Hill."