Student-Athlete Punishments
- Emily Timm
- Sep 21, 2016
- 2 min read
Tulane fires their strength and conditioning coach.
What punishments do student-athletes receive from coaches for breaking rules or longstanding traditions? In particular, what physical activities are student athletes forced to undertake for certain offences such as forgetting parts of equipment or a uniform, showing up late to a practice or game, or failing to perform up to the standards in a game. When do these punishments cross a line and become cruel or unusual?
Recently, Tulane University fired their strength and conditioning coach, Stephanie Sharpe, charging her with punishing athletes by requiring them to do various physical activities. Some students are fighting back and saying that the bear crawls, rolls and other exercises are part of the expected experience and are accepted when a student disobeys rules. Sharpe had the athletes perform rolls and bear claws which according to former student athletes, are stand disciplinary actions. “It’s common practice in any sport to have a player do rolls and bear crawls if they’re late to practice,” said the former Tulane football running back Dan Butler, “I’ve seen it done multiple times.”
Butler said “She cared about your attitude on and off the field. She was someone you could go to for anything. She was tough and tried to push you (to achieve).
When she was fired, it caused a large number of students to sign a petition to try to get her to return. The petition was started by the swimming and diving team and currently has more than 200 signatures. “The petition was made in an effort to show Sharpe and Tulane Athletics that we support her and don’t think she should’ve been fired,” said the senior swimmer Laura Turpen. The assistant director Roger Dunaway also said that student athletes would not be punished for expressing their anger online.
Freshmen Christie has worked as a Student Athletic Trainer and was shocked when she found out Sharpe had been dismissed. She said “Coming to work and having someone so happy at 6 am was really nice. She was such a big part of this huge family. For such an integral part of that family to leave is insane.”