At a recent Board of Education meeting, a teacher raised allegations of hazing involving the boys basketball team at Bristol High School, prompting a wave of concern among parents and community members.
The hidden culture of wrangling
The victim’s mother described the incident as a June skills camp where her son was restrained against a wall, his pants removed, and assaulted with chains, rope, mats and a massage gun, a practice the team calls wrangling that has reportedly persisted for an undetermined number of years.
Superintendent Christopher Dray issued a statement acknowledging the allegations and confirming that they are being addressed under board policy, while the mother reported the matter to principal Dan Collins, athletic director Adam Crow and the coaching staff.
The school’s response has been limited to closing the team room inside the locker area, a move the mother says does little to address the deeper trauma, noting that the abuse has left her son and other young athletes feeling violated and reluctant to return to the court, and she is awaiting counsel from a Title IX lawyer.
Other parents have corroborated the story, yet no additional public testimonies have emerged, and the mother emphasizes that older players organized a lookout and used a code word to signal approaching adults, indicating a deliberate and organized pattern of abuse that has impacted countless young athletes.