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Argonauts speak out about bullying
The Toronto Argonauts have done plenty of positive charity work in their community, including helping to revitalize several high school football programs, but one of their latest efforts particularly stands out. As part of their long-running Huddle Up bullying prevention program, the Argonauts' Joe Eppele, Tristan Black and Jordan Younger shared their experiences with bullying with school communities this week, and The Toronto Star's Stephanie Findlay was there to relay them to a wider audience. It's relatively easy to take a public stance against bullying in general, but it's much more difficult to talk about specific personal experiences with it; the Argonauts' players who did so deserve thorough commendation, as if anything's going to help reduce bullying, it's stories like these.
There's a common perception that professional athletes have had it easy through most of their lives, being the popular jocks in school. That's not always the case, though, and it's not how it worked out for Eppele, an offensive lineman who you may remember from the time he climbed the CN Tower in a Sasquatch suit. As he told the kids, he was victimized by bullying during his elementary school days:
I was a physically awkward kid and I started gaining weight. When kids were choosing sports teams during recess, I was picked last.
I began eating more, I guess as a comfort food thing. My friends, or the ones I thought were my friends, began teasing me. It started as simple jokes, like 'the big guy is having problems fitting into a desk.'
My dad is old fashioned. He told me to stand up for myself and drag them out into the back.
The teachers said 'Joe's a big kid, he can take it all in stride.'
In fifth grade, it got to the point where I felt so alone, so hopeless. I wanted to quit school. Instead, I transferred.
Eppele's story is anything but unique, as tons of kids are victimized by similar bullying every day. It's worth keeping in mind that the bullies themselves often have their own issues, though. Argonauts' linebacker Black was on the other side of the equation growing up; here's part of what he told the kids:
I was a bully myself. Looking back I remember I was a sad kid, a little depressed at times.
Basically, I would take it out on the kids at school. I went to five elementary schools in Toronto.
It was just little things. I remember people building blocks and I would knock them down for no reason.
I'd be physical with one kid. I didn't like him. I thought he was a geek or something like that, a Star Trek enthusiast.
They sent me to the office. I came back and for some reason as soon as I saw him I rushed at him and hit him again, because he got me in trouble the first time.
My mother sent me to another school because I was getting in trouble a lot.
At this new school, I had to go talk to someone. Now that I look back I realize it was a child therapist. I was able to tell her things about what was going on. The bullying subsided, because I had an outlet.
Argonauts' linebacker Younger grew up in Trenton, New Jersey, where small-scale bullying often crossed paths with outright gang violence. He said the two aren't all that different:
When you see the physical forms of bullying, when you see kids gang up against one person or a group of people, that is another form of small gang violence.
Maybe it's not an organized gang, maybe you don't have a leader so to speak, but the way it looks from the outside looking in it's exactly the same.
That's the key, really. Bullying can have significant psychological impacts on both the bully and the bullied, and it can lead to serious physical violence as well and even gangs. It's a tough issue to address and an even tougher one to solve, but having successful athletes like the Argonauts' players speak directly to local kids about their own experiences with bullying is a great start. These kinds of testimonials can have a tremendous impact, so it's fantastic to see the organization and its players continuing their work on such a vital issue.