With hazing incidents generating national as well as local headlines, the Chester County Health Department and the Crime Victims’ Center of Chester County, Inc. will host a “Coaching Boys into Men” (CBIM) training event this month.
Designed to provide athletic coaches with the resources needed to promote respectful behavior among their players, the CBIM training session will be held at the Chester County Government Services Center, Room 170, 601 Westtown Rd. in West Chester, on Monday, March 21, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. The session is free, but registration is required, according to a Chester County Health Department press release.
“Athletic coaches play an extremely influential and unique role in the lives of young men, often serving as a role model or mentor to the boys they coach,” Jeanne E. Casner, the county’s health director, said in the release. “Because of these special relationships, coaches are uniquely poised to positively influence how young men think and behave both on and off the field.”
In addition to promoting respectful behavior, the Coaching Boys into Men program addresses ways in which coaches can help prevent relationship abuse, harassment, and sexual assault. All materials necessary to implement the program will be distributed at the training.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in three women and one in four men will experience violence from their partners in their lifetimes. One in five women has been raped, and one in two women has experienced some form of sexual assault. Many of those affected were abused before the age of 18, the release said.
On Friday, March 4, Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan announced that charges were filed in the juvenile system against three seniors on the Conestoga High School football team. Hogan said the teens engaged in a broomstick sex assault on a freshman on what the team called “No Gay Thursday.”
The CBIM curriculum consists of a series of coach-to-athlete trainings that illustrate ways to model respect and promote healthy relationships. The CBIM card series instructs coaches on how to incorporate themes associated with teamwork, integrity, fair play, and respect into their daily practice and routine, according to its website.
CBIM first launched in 2001 as a national public service announcement campaign in partnership with the Advertising Council. The television, radio, print, and online ads leveraged over $123 million in donated media and catalyzed grassroots efforts in communities across the country. CBIM has since grown from a broad awareness and action campaign into a comprehensive violence prevention curriculum for coaches and their athletes, the website said.
To reserve a spot for the free March 21 training, click here. For questions, contact Lindsay Smith, public health educator at the Chester County Health Department, at 610-344-5209. or email lcsmith@chesco.org.
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