Whether you’re a high school varsity athlete or a professional at the highest level of a sport, you can probably expect to have a taxing experience whenever you take part in a practice. That’s to be expected — but there’s also a line between a practice that pushes athletes to their limits to hone their skills and pushes you to your limits and one that’s so intense that it can cause physical harm.
Earlier this month, an instance of the latter transpired at a Chicago-area university. As CBS Sports reports, five members of Concordia University’s Division III men’s basketball team were hospitalized following a particularly exhausting practice. One of them remains in the hospital — and now the team’s coach has been “temporarily removed” as a result.
According to the article, the intensity of the practice is believed to be a result of the players missing a curfew. And — to state the obvious — while players missing a curfew is bad, working them so hard they have to go to the hospital is much, much worse.
“It has been alleged by some that the intensity and difficulty of Saturday’s practice was a direct consequence of the broken curfew earlier in the week,” said Pete Gnan, the university’s athletic director, in a letter addressing the incident. Gnan went on to point to Concordia’s policy of “zero tolerance for harassment or retaliatory actions of any kind.”
For now, Rashaan Surles is the team’s acting head coach, following the temporary removal of Steve Kollar. CBS Sports also reported that Concordia postponed two games in the first week of January, and is set to resume their season with a game on Tuesday.
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