Posted on 10/08/2008 10:12:10 AM PDT by prolifefirst
Last school year, Simeon High School senior Bruce Zayas was captain of the volleyball team, a rising star recruited from Mount Carmel, and looking at a volleyball scholarship.
But a paddling by his coach last April for missing serves during a game -- a "whupping" that left welts on the 17-year-old -- changed that.
» Click to enlarge image Bruce Zayas, No. 5, was captain of Simeon’s volleyball team and working toward a college scholarship. He says he was forced off the team.
RELATED STORIESTell us: Should student athletes be paddled?
"I worked so hard at volleyball to get to that college scholarship level, and it got all taken away," Zayas said.
His courage in exposing a practice long illegal in Illinois led to a coach's resignation and spurred an investigation into corporal punishment at some city public schools.
"Anyplace where this is found, we're going to fire the coach," Chicago Public Schools Chief Arne Duncan said.
Fred McClinton, the Simeon sophomore assistant coach who whacked Zayas five times April 3 with a heavy wooden paddle, has resigned, CPS officials said. Last month, the probe spread from Simeon to four other schools, including Marshall and Phillips.
The practice was brought to light by Zayas' mother.
"I picked him up from practice, and he could barely sit," Valerie Thompson said. "He said, 'Coach just whupped me with a paddle,' and broke down crying. . . . He showed me the welts. I couldn't believe it. I lost my mind."
Corporal punishment has been illegal in Illinois since 1974.
Thompson met with Simeon Principal Tamara Sterling and her coaching staff on April 7.
"There was no sense of regret that this happened to my son," she said. "It was like, 'OK, it happened. Can we all move forward?' "
She hired attorney Richard Mallen, who wrote to Duncan on April 15 demanding that CPS preserve paddles and videotape from the gym incident.
"What we learned was that this was a practice in use at Simeon not only for this sport, but for other sports too, although no one up to this point had come forward," Mallen said.
Now, other students at Simeon and several schools have.
Zayas said he was like a pariah on his team. "Kids were mad at me. . . . I felt the coaches and everybody hated me," he said. "At the very next game, I got demoted from captain. Then they benched me. I couldn't take it after that. I had to quit the team."
Duncan declared zero tolerance for corporal punishment in CPS schools. "This is personal," Duncan said. "I was hit as a kid on a team, and I don't want anyone to go through what I went through."
Now playing club volleyball, Zayas regrets being forced off the team. "All I want to do is play volleyball without retribution," he said. "I just want to go to college."
Grew up playing basketball in a Chicago suburb in the 70’s and have never heard of this. What the hell?
Last year over 20 Chicago public school kids were murdered, so maybe corporal punishment is necessary there.
?? WTH?! What kind of twisted logic is that??
When I was in high school in the early 60s, the coaches regularly ruffed up the teams. They would also set up boxing matches for guys who had problems with each other.
Corporal punishment has been illegal in Illinois since 1974.
Tell that to my jr. high school teachers and principle in 75 and 76. They beat the tar out of us.
If a lot of kids in your school system are killing and being killed, maybe suburban notions of discipline aren’t applicable.
Yeah, well, he wasn’t getting paddled because he was murdering someone, or involved in a murderous activity, he was getting paddled because he missed some serves in volleyball.
That is assault, battery, and injury to a child.
That’s a felony.
The coach needs another line of work. I played for a number of very good (Olympic calibre)coaches and neither I nor anyone else was subjected to this treatment.
I did play for a coach who was brutal with his players and later was later convicted of attempted murder, but he never touched us, just yelled epithets continuously.
Check out the video.
The guys are practicing basketball, screw up and the coach leaves welts on their assets for it.
How that applies to murdered kids is WAY beyond me...
What sport?
I’m speculating that maybe if kids live in an environment where violence outside the school is extreme, then maybe a system of discipline without corporal punishment is limp.
Was this the Iraqi volleyball team?
Clearly, the normal way of doing things in the Chicago Public Schools isn’t working.
I’m not ready to condemn coporal punishment as out of hand.
Yes I was paddled. I deserved it. I think we should bring the practice back.
The #1 NBA draft choice, Derrick Rose, went to this school and his team won back-to-back state championships.
Not from anywhere near Chicago, but I was in HS sports.... I never heard of coaches paddling their players. Extra running, pushups, and all that sort of thing, but never corporal punishment. What'd be the point?
At the risk of seeming racially insensitive... is this a "black thing?"
Swimming,
Gymnastics,
Fencing,
Table tennis, I had some former national champions who ran my butt through the wringer.
Bobby Knight and Woody Hayes are seeming mellow this morning.
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