South Tahoe High softball coach Anneliese Neitling has apologized for instructing players to drink soda out of a teammate’s cleat. This was the punishment for the girls who struck out during their game on May 1.
Eight varsity players who struck out against the Wooster Colts in that game at Todd Fields were required by coach Anneliese Neitling to drink soda pop out of a team member’s softball cleat at a team slumber party that night.
The Tahoe Daily Trib une contacted Neitling on Wednesday and she re fused to comment. She did not return additional phone calls before deadline Thursday.
James Tarwater, the superintendent of Lake Tahoe Unified School District, interpreted the action as a young coach’s mistake.
“It was meant as a joke and obviously it went too far,” said Tarwater, whose office received one par ental complaint about the incident.
Tarwater said the incident will be addressed during Neitling’s postseason coaching evaluation.
A couple of things here:
– I guess it depends who’s shoe it was, because Betty “Swamp Foot” Ferguson often smells of something awful.
– Only one player did not strike out. Was she party to this whole fiasco as well — i.e. did she sit back and smirk, was it her shoe, did she try and stop it?
– This was at a slumber party? If so, why did the girls go through with it during such an innocent event? Or was the coach in attendance, enforcing the punishment? If so, what the F?
On a more serious note, it amazes me that school teachers/coaches sometimes think they can get away with this behavior. Other than simply reporting it verbally, high school kids are adept enough with their phones to capture any unsavory behavior as they understand the multimedia capabilities.
