BY HILLARY VIDERS
SPECIAL TO NORTHERN VALLEY PRESS
ENGLEWOOD, N.J.—Star athletes have always been viewed as heroes and role models, and Dwight Morrow High School is putting that social status to good use.
Through an innovative initiative sponsored by the ZONE, a school-based youth service program operated by the Bergen Family Center, members of Dwight Morrow High School’s football and soccer teams are being taught how to inspire their peers and the public to prevent, recognize, and intervene in sexual violence.
This ZONE program is timely. Stories of professional athletes committing acts of sexual violence are in the media, creating much concern to combat this issue. A National Justice Survey reports that every year, approximately 1.3 million women are physically assaulted by an intimate partner.
According to National Sexual Violence Resource Center statistics, one in five women will be the victim of rape in their lifetime, and one in four girls will be sexually assaulted before they are 18.
The incidence of sexual violence among teens is of particular concern. According to researchers, one in three young people experience physical, psychological or sexual violence in romantic relationships at some time.
In a 2004 article in the Journal of Adolescent Health, Dr. Heather L. McCauley, Sc.D., notes that there is a connection between violent sports such as football, basketball and soccer and dating abuse among high school and college athletes. Researchers attribute this to a hyper-masculine attitude and elevated status that athletes may develop.
Teen athletes may also have the misconception that violence is a normal part of dating relationships, and many believe that it is acceptable because their peers are doing the same thing.
Exacerbating the problem are the myriad tabloid stories of professional athletes and media stars who brutalize their wives and girlfriends, and advertisements that depict scantily clad women being dominated by men.
ZONE proactive in preventing sexual violence
In Englewood, the problem of sexual violence is being tackled by the ZONE by training high school athletes to be role models and active advocates of proper relationship behavior. In conjunction with Alternatives to Domestic Violence (ADV) and YWCA Bergen County’s healingSPACE, the ZONE’S program employs a team of experts to speak to Dwight Morrow High School football and soccer teams about healthy relationships.
All Dwight Morrow High School football and soccer team members take this program, which consists of three sessions per team.
The program focuses on teaching the ZONE’s Green Dot Theory: “See something, say something.”
Going further, the teen athletes are given tools to change attitudes in others to prevent sexual abuse in their community.
Using teen athletes as advocates against sexual violence has already proved effective. In 2015, after the ZONE’s training sessions, members of the DMHS football and soccer teams went door to door to numerous Englewood stores and businesses and asked the owners to hang posters eschewing sexual violence.
They also spoke with their schoolmates as well as with middle school students.
This past month, the ZONE hosted three training sessions for DMHS’ football team at Winton White Stadium and three training sessions for the soccer team at the Janis E. Dismus Middle School. Program speakers included Liz Corsini and Mariam Gerges from the ZONE, Dave Cohen from Alternatives to Domestic Violence, Leidy Londono from healingSPACE and Billy Bowie, DMHS principal.
The first session for the football team took place on Aug. 16 at the Winton White Stadium. All 32 team members were present, as were Rich Suchanski, athletic director for the district, Bowie, coaches Sean O’Connor and Joe Hoyle Jr., and staff members of the ZONE, Gerges and Olga Correa.
As the session began, Bowie spoke about his personal history of playing and enjoying football. He emphasized that what may be said in the locker room must be turned off when you leave the locker room and that aggression is appropriate on the field, but not when you are outside.
“When you move from one place to another, you have to turn that switch off,” Bowie told them. “I have a very high expectation for my student athletes. You represent the school and the community.”
Next, Gerges let the players know that they can come to the ZONE for any problems that they may have or observe, and that all information remains confidential.
Gerges then led an interactive discussion on the stigma of sexual violence. Many incidents are never reported due to embarrassment, fear, and victimsʼ concern that they will somehow be blamed for inciting the assault.
She also explained that todayʼs society is a “rape culture,” meaning that people have come to accept rape as an everyday kind of occurrence. To put this in perspective, Gerges asked each student to imagine how they would feel if this happened to someone close to them, such as a sister, mother, or cousin.
Gerges concluded her talk by saying that the ZONE was establishing an advisory committee on sexual violence and encouraged everyone to join.
She then showed a video in which students from DMHS and other schools talked about their experiences observing sexually abusive behavior.
Dave Cohen, the director of ADV, an organization that has been operating for 33 years, gave a dramatic presentation about dating and domestic violence and the issue of aggressiveness on the field versus off the field. Cohen seized everyoneʼs attention by stating that every single day in this country, two to three women are killed by their husbands and boyfriends.
Cohen added, “There is domestic violence in all 70 towns in Bergen County. Race, economics, religion, education level… none of that matters.”
Cohen kept the football team engrossed when he said that not only women are rape victims, but that one in six boys will be sexually assaulted by the time they are 18.
“Thatʼs right, guys, you or one of your teammates, can get jammed up, too, so you have to be aware of whatʼs happening.”
Cohen also discussed a form of sexual abuse that is new to the younger generation: pornography transmitted via cell phones. He explained that foolish actions can have legal and social consequences for a lifetime.
“It never goes away,” Cohen said. “Once you hit that send button, youʼre done.”
The two-hour training session was extremely effective, and many football team members continued animated discussions of their own during the lunch break.
In subsequent training sessions, Gerges and other experts from the ZONE and from healingSPACE spoke to the football and soccer teams about the laws and issues around consent and what healthy masculinity really is or really looks like.
Most important, they instructed the students on how to effectively and safely intervene in potential sexually violent situations as well as learn how to change the culture around them.
Taking action is a major focus of this ZONE program. At the conclusion of the program, all the football and soccer team players were asked to take a pledge against sexual violence.
As evidenced by the impact of these training sessions, the ZONE has established an excellent Sexual Violence Prevention Program for high school athletes in Englewood. They have, in effect, created a team of athletic heroes who will actively campaign for this issue. Hopefully, the ZONEʼs template will also be incorporated into other communities in Bergen County and beyond.