Did you lose a match? Don't shake hands with your opponent. Go follow them into the visitors' locker room and beat them up. You'll feel much better!
Girls' team attacks rivals after loss
The Crane High School girls volleyball team refused to shake hands with Juarez High's players after losing a close match.
In minutes, the unsportsmanlike snub escalated into violence when Crane players followed the Juarez girls into the locker room and pummeled them, officials said. Two of the Juarez players went to the hospital after they were punched and kicked in the Wednesday melee.
On Thursday, Chicago Public Schools officials suspended five Crane girls volleyball players for 10 days and kicked them off the team for the rest of the season. A Crane student was arrested, said police spokesman David Bayless. He would not identify the student because she is a juvenile.
"The vast majority of our athletic competitions go off without any altercations," said Mike Vaughn, a spokesman for Chicago Public Schools. "I cannot recall another situation like this between our student athletes."
Juarez senior Joequetta Calloway said her team won their third game, 25-23, to clinch the match against Crane. They were playing at Crane High, 2245 W. Jackson Blvd.
"They got mad because we won the volleyball game," said Calloway, 17. "You're supposed to shake hands after the game. They didn't want to shake our hands."
As many as 10 Crane girls followed Calloway and four other Juarez players into the locker room, Calloway said.
"They started hitting my teammate, Stephanie, punching her," she said. "Then they pushed me on the floor and all of them got to kicking us. A coach came in and broke it up."
About two hours after the attack, Calloway went to Stroger Hospital for X-rays, which did not show any broken bones. She suffered bruises and scrapes, but no major injuries.
A 15-year-old Juarez player was taken to a hospital from the school after she was punched in the face. She did not suffer serious injuries, either, officials said.
The locker room attack erupted about 5 p.m. as a Crane coach was disciplining some of her players who were involved in an argument on the bench, Vaughn said.
As the Crane coach went into the locker room to stop the attack, one of the players she was disciplining went into the gym and struck the 15-year-old Juarez player in the face, Vaughn said.
"This is the first time I ever saw something like this," said Calloway, who still had a shoe footprint on her back Thursday and a bruised face and hand.
Crane Principal Melver Scott handed down the punishment against the varsity volleyball players Thursday, Vaughn said. Natividad Loredo, principal of Juarez at 2150 S. Laflin, did not think discipline was warranted for his students, Vaughn said.
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