Sports initiations constantly get a bad rap. They’re banned by most American universities and even by some British ones but rarely are the offenders punished if they do decide to initiate their team.
You do get cases like that of Matthew Carrington whose unfortunate death in February 2005 occurred during his hazing initiations at Chico State University of California. After being forced into physical exercise and ordered to drink alcohol consistently throughout the night with ice-cold air blasted onto his body, the hazing ceremony went terribly wrong. In order to be initiated into his team, Matthew paid with his life.
As they can be dangerous, one solution would be to ban all initiations. However, we all know that there would be ways of getting around the banning of these activities. It’s merely a question of sports groups getting inventive with the naming of their events. A welcome party for example? Or welcome drinks? Fresher’s integration?
In fairness, I can see both sides of this argument. Sadly there are extreme cases but most of the time sporting initiations are meant to be fun. They are meant to embarrass people and give the whole team hilarious memories that will last the length of their degree, providing new members with nicknames that then spread across campus. They are not meant to push people to the absolute extremes. It’s meant to be funny.
Whether or not you decide to join in with your sporting initiation is rarely a seriously considered question. You just instantly think yes.
You don’t want to be the boring one or the one that lets everyone down, so you do what they ask. You let second and third years throw scrambled eggs at you and as you’re forced to drink the best part of a bottle of BBQ sauce. You do go and get random peoples’ numbers and get them to buy you drinks. Because the bottom line is it’s funny.When you see other people getting involved in their ‘freshers’ fun’ you realize that most of the time it’s harmless.
The only thing people need to remember is that there is a line. How far do you go? If you know you’re just going to be slightly embarrassed in the morning, it’s easy to join in. Yet, if you know you’re going to be putting yourself at death’s door or, in some cases, doing some slightly illegal things, is it really worth it?
It should always be funny – steal a friend’s washing line or fight each other in sumo suits or play good drinking games. Just make sure you feel safe whilst partaking in initiations. And as for the rest of us who aren’t sporty– we’d really enjoy hearing the stories and seeing the pictures in the morning…
Edited by Georgina Varley
Image Source:
http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article8973605.ece/alternates/w620/unilads.jpg