There is a fine line between friendly team-bonding activities and harassment. Some practices that fall under the category of "hazing", such as shaving heads and weird pre-game outfits, are not detrimental to the mental or physical health of athletes and may actually help team unity.

But according to a survey done by Alfred University in 2000, 29% of high school students are hazed in a potentially illegal way, constituted by physical, emotional, or verbal harassment. If this number is true for the student population at Paly, about 485 students at Paly have been harassed for initiation.

As an example of constructive "hazing", Paly's varsity boys' soccer team had a positive experience. At a team pasta feed, the seniors led the charge and shaved their own heads before then shaving the heads of the remaining players on the team. Everyone knew who the soccer team was the next day at school by the buzz-cuts, zigzags, bleached hair or new mohawks, not by the limp after numerous blows to the groin or the green face after a cake full of hair. Even though there was pressure for the underclassmen to listen to and follow the seniors, the whole team came together with their bald heads and developed a strong bond.

"They [the seniors] were nice about it and you got to choose what haircut you got," sophomore Jenner Fox said. "Everyone looked stupid together and we got to know each other better [that way]."

The haircuts did not hurt anybody mentally or physically and, of course, hair always grows back. Conversely, stories of football players eating cakes of pubic hairs and wrestlers taped to showers and paddled goes far beyond the fine line. A player deliberately punching his or her teammate in the groin does not form any positive bond within the team.

"It just made me hate [my teammate]," an anonymous football player said of his treatment.

Hazing is team building up to certain degree, but once the treatment falls under the category of harassment, it must be stopped.

The line is drawn where the victim is no longer having fun and the intent is to put the athlete in an uncomfortable situation. Dressing up in odd costumes and cutting bizarre haircuts are in good fun, and do not inflict harm or pain on the victim.

The line is crossed when the athlete has to lick chocolate sauce off their teammate's nipples, a repulsive experience that the athlete will never forget.

Hazing may be a tradition in some sports, but players need to sense when the line is crossed. Hazing is a problem and students need to acknowledge the line between team bonding and illegal hazing and have the courage to stop it.