In a recent series of events that have rattled a local high school sports community, Woodland Hills High School's girls' volleyball team underwent what has been described as excessive practice regimens, resulting in physical harm amid soaring temperatures. Parent Will Safran stated, as per WPXI, "It’s child abuse, it basically is child abuse that’s the way I see it."
Allegations center around an incident in which the team was made to perform laps of burpees and bear crawls on what, feeling the heat of the day on their palms, seared into the rough track surface. Safran described disheartening scenes as his daughter and her friend revealed hands marred by "broken blisters — still blisters all black and dirt under the blisters," in an interview with WPXI. This came after a session led by a coach who had been with the team for a mere month and wasn't a district employee.
Reacting to the uproar, the Woodland Hills School District has initiated an investigation into the conduct of the coach, whose exacting training methods have drawn ire. Following the fallout and subsequent parental outcry, Tuesday's practice was called off to allow time for a meeting to discuss the issue.
Adding to the narrative, Safran relayed to WTAE that the strenuous home workout requirements of push-ups and sit-ups, enforced through video submissions to the coach, were meant as punishment. Clawing into another layer of controversy, the same parents were informed at a meeting with district officials that the coach had tendered their resignation. Woodland Hills' athletic director offered an apology to the parents, akin to putting a Band-Aid on a deep wound, and the search for a replacement was underway.
