Eight Texas high school students have been hospitalised after allegedly being forced to do 400 push-ups by their gridiron football coach. Strap in, folks because this is an absolutely bizarre story that could only happen in the greatest country on earth — America.
The bloke who could be in a spot of trouble here is John Harrell, the head football coach at elite sporting school Rockwall-Heath High School.
So, how the fuck did this happen? Well, the team’s captain, Brady Luff, gave us a hint.
“Our motto, it’s the number 16. Sixteen ball games to win a championship,” he told local news station WFAA.
“We do these workouts and it’s all about discipline. If we get them right, we move on. If not, we do 16 push-ups.”
Wow okay.
These punishment push-ups allegedly resulted in a handful of players needing to be taken to the local hospital.
The mother of one of the hospitalised children — who wanted to remain anonymous— said her son has since been diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis, a disease that can cause kidney damage or even complete kidney failure.
Luff did come out in defence of his coach, refuting claims that his teammates were placed in any danger or deprived of water.
“These coaches have treated me with so much respect and have treated me like their son,” he said.
“We have these big jugs full of water. You can go there in between reps and get water whenever you want. No one was deprived of water.”
The school has since announced in a letter to parents that a third party will be investigating the incident.
“Please know the district immediately implemented measures to address the situation and provide support for our students,” the letter read per news.com.au.
“The district is also taking interim action, including but not limited to, placing Coach Harrell on administrative leave while the investigation is pending and notifying appropriate outside agencies.”
I for one, believe that performing any more than four push-ups a day is overdoing it.
400 is simply chaos.
