Ohio State soccer club benched for year

[hoosier]

Ohio State soccer club benched for year

By Justin Wendling

The Lantern (Ohio State U.)
September 22, 2004
(U-WIRE) COLUMBUS, Ohio -- This season, the Ohio State men's club soccer team won't be heading in any goals. They won't even be heading to the fields. In fact, the Buckeyes won't be heading anywhere. In April the team was banned from representing Ohio State University after participating in a possible hazing activity with new players.

The Office of Judicial Affairs has banned every player on the team from the sport.

"It's a shame because a lot of people love to play soccer, but Judicial Affairs had to act on the situation," said Brian Harris, assistant director of the club sports department.

The hazing incident was during an initiation party held for the new members of the team and apparently was nothing new.

"It's a tradition -- I had to go through it last year," said two-year team member Colin Gentry. "Plus, it builds team unity."

The party was held at an undisclosed location off campus. The new members of the team had to wear plain white T-shirts so the veterans could write tally marks on their shirts as the new players progressed through the stations.

After the shirts were distributed, the veteran team members set up drinking stations.

"I guess you could say it is a form of hazing, but nothing was forced -- everything was optional," Gentry said.

Later that night, a resident assistant found a member of the club soccer team passed out in the residence hall, where he was transferred to the Ohio State Medical Center.

The following week the Office of Judicial Affairs met with every player on the team.

"We met with every player and wanted to hear their story," Harris said.

In April the club soccer team received the news that it will not be eligible until the fall of 2005, and all returning players had been kicked off the team and banned indefinitely from all club sports at OSU.

Many of the players said they were upset with the ruling and the way it was handled.

"They put us on the back burner," said Gabe Roth, a junior on the team. "They told us it would get done as quickly as possible, but we did not receive an answer until six months later."

Not all of the players were at the initiation party, but they still remain suspended from recreational activities at OSU.

"It is a shame because a lot of the players had clean records with the university," Roth said. "To punish those who were not in attendance does not seem right."

A few of the players -- Gentry among them -- have appealed the ruling.

"Sports are a huge part of my life, and now I cannot participate here at OSU," Gentry said.

A ruling on the appeal will come some time this fall. John Ullman, the club soccer team president, was unreachable for comment. _