Not All Press is Good Press

[tkexi991]

http://wbal.com/news/story.asp?articleid=60758

Anyone know the story here?

[Right-Handed Lefty]

Unfortunately, he's not the first.

FYI: Matt Hite in the news

[darius]

IMO, the story's pretty well spelled-out. Much more detail would be bad for the privacy of the (alleged) victim.

darius

[hpfencing]

Originally Posted by Right-Handed Lefty

Unfortunately, he's not the first.

FYI: Matt Hite in the news

The article about Matt is basised on a simple Class c (non-sexual) incident that happened and the other information is misleading an in many places incorrect for a source that the city paper will question before using again.

[irishfolker]

The person mentioned in the original post has been suspended from the club and all members have been kept apprised of the situation.

More than that I will not say.

[Phaeton]

If anything inapropriate ocurred, it's a terrible thing.

That doesn't mean, however, that it's bad for the sport. I'm pretty sure after this article that people en masse are not going to begin associating fencing with child molestation.

You get enough people fencing, and you get a large enough community, and you're going to get a higher number of undesirables based on sheer percentages.

Locally I've heard all sorts of molestation stories in the paper regarding sports over the years; whether it's football or soccer, an independent club or a school coach, stuff like this sadly happens. It doesn't, unless there's some terrible massive trend, reflect back on the sport or coaches as a whole. I've never heard a parent refuse to send a kid to football because "they might get molested". I've also never heard a parent refuse to send a kid to school.

While on an individual level this is completely dispicable, as a sport I don't think any reputations are changing, beyond getting fencing heard about by more people in the paper.

This is purely a response to the title of the thread....

[D+F+P=Hadouken!]

Ugh, gross.

And wow, I'd actually heard of these people before.

[HDG]

Originally Posted by Phaeton

That doesn't mean, however, that it's bad for the sport. I'm pretty sure after this article that people en masse are NOT going to begin associating fencing with child molestation.

I really hope you accidentally left out the "not" that I inserted…

[tkexi991]

Originally Posted by Phaeton

That doesn't mean, however, that it's bad for the sport. I'm pretty sure after this article that people en masse are going to begin associating fencing with child molestation.

You get enough people fencing, and you get a large enough community, and you're going to get a higher number of undesirables based on sheer percentages.

While on an individual level this is completely dispicable, as a sport I don't think any reputations are changing, beyond getting fencing heard about by more people in the paper.

This is purely a response to the title of the thread....

Phaeton, I would challenge you to assert how the original story posted is good for the sport. Tons of people play and watch football, and you won't find many folks who would say that Michael Vick's indictment last night is good for the NFL.

However, even though fencing is growing in the US, stories like this and fencing "accidents" seem to be the only ones to make the front pages. Unfortunately, we need to grow a lot more before the good reported stories outshine the bad. I posted the story above to draw attention to this phenomenon, and also in the faint hope that someone here knows the principals and can testify that it was all a misunderstanding.

[Peach]

Originally Posted by tkexi991

I posted the story above to draw attention to this phenomenon, and also in the faint hope that someone here knows the principals and can testify that it was all a misunderstanding.

Um . . . No. Don't be disingenuous. The result of posting a link to a story like this is to draw attention to the story and make sure everybody including the people who didn't know the principals also knows about it.

[qatet]

Originally Posted by Peach

Um . . . No. Don't be disingenuous. The result of posting a link to a story like this is to draw attention to the story and make sure everybody including the people who didn't know the principals also knows about it.

Which is exactly why I (and I'm sure many others who also knew about this already) have not posted it.

[RebelFencer]

Ugh, this is crazy.

[qatet]

I've got to say, as a coach, reading the article about Matt Hite gives me the heebie-jeebies. As coaches we sometimes _have_ to touch kids to show them where a misplaced body-part belongs. As much as possible, I use a weapon to make those corrections, gently laying the foible next to a student's knee, for instance, to remind them to keep their knee turned out over their foot. I figure that it's safer to make as many corrections as possible with a three-foot pole, as it were, to avoid any semblance of "improper touching" that might come up from using my hand on their knee. I am completely comfortable with the amount of physical contact that I have with my students, but I do always worry about these things in this litigious age. Students from clubs where I coach have contacted me on Facebook, and I am thus always hyper-aware of what I post there, because that contact does make me less comfortable.

I have fenced at clubs where the coaches can't seem to stop jumping into bed with the (considerably younger, but above the age-of-consent) students. That's a nice, clear line that I don't think I need to worry about crossing. But this other stuff... so tricky and so open to interpretation. I was relatively touchy-feely as a teenager, but have become more reserved as I got older, to the point where I am now sometimes told that I'm downright stand-offish. But for somebody who reaches out to others as a normal habit, man, this coaching thing would be a difficult career, especially since kids are often unable to give voice to moments that make them feel uncomfortable.

[Phaeton]

Originally Posted by HDG

I really hope you accidentally left out the "not" that I inserted…

I did. Thank you. Typing+Watching television don't always mix.

[Phaeton]

Originally Posted by tkexi991

Phaeton, I would challenge you to assert how the original story posted is good for the sport. Tons of people play and watch football, and you won't find many folks who would say that Michael Vick's indictment last night is good for the NFL.

However, even though fencing is growing in the US, stories like this and fencing "accidents" seem to be the only ones to make the front pages. Unfortunately, we need to grow a lot more before the good reported stories outshine the bad. I posted the story above to draw attention to this phenomenon, and also in the faint hope that someone here knows the principals and can testify that it was all a misunderstanding.

The NFL is in a very different position than the USFA. Everyone to some extent is always concious of the existence of American Footbal. Even outside the United States people are generally aware some bizzare bastardized rugby that those crazy yanks play.

On the other hand, fencing is not well known within the US. TV and radio stations don't have a cadre of USFA analysts they can call up any time it strikes their fancy.

People know who Michael Vick is. There's a wikipedia article on him if they don't. People may want to find out who the involved people are in the fencing world, and that may give exposure. At the moment there's not one for Jason Rogers. And Ivan Lee? It's less than a paragraph long. Soren Thompson however has a bit longer of a page, still dim in comparison with anyone from any mainstream sport.

You could run around yelling the illuminati are bad, but that's atleast admitting that illuminati exist and are a phenomenon that's major enough to worry about. It comes to a point where if it makes people curious....and doesn't deter too many people it maybe have done some net good. The curiousity of people around bad news sometimes plays out in interesting ways.

[Right-Handed Lefty]

Evidentally HPfencing (Matt Hite) saw fit to abuse his fencing.net admin rights to edit the link to his public news story so it would not work at 12:58 pm today. Here is the corrected link.
http://www.amarillo.com/stories/0527..._7641362.shtml

He doesn't want you to know what he did.

Um . . . No. Don't be disingenuous. The result of posting a link to a story like this is to draw attention to the story and make sure everybody including the people who didn't know the principals also knows about it.

Damn straight! We have too many people in this sport covering up for alcoholics, perverts, and incompetents. Seems the USFA is just starting to find out that they have “bad guys” in the sport. I’m not advocating a witch hunt by any means, but word of mouth in the fencing community goes a long way in weeding out these creeps.

[noodle]

Originally Posted by Right-Handed Lefty

Evidentally HPfencing (Matt Hite) saw fit to abuse his fencing.net admin rights to edit the link to his public news story so it would not work at 12:58 pm today. Here is the corrected link.
http://www.amarillo.com/stories/0527..._7641362.shtml

He doesn't want you to know what he did.

to note, he is only a moderator of the RMS subforum -- the section of which he is secretary.

[Fencing Mom]

Perhaps owners and managers of clubs should start obtaining clearances and requiring them for their employees/coaches. At first, in order to work in PA schools, only teachers had to file for criminal and child abuse history clearances issued by the state police and child welfare departments. Now, anyone who volunteers in a school (including volunteer fencing coaches) has to submit those clearances. Recently, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh started requiring clearances and long applications/pledges from the thousands of employees and volunteers in the diocese’s churches. Little old grandmas who have volunteered for the altar guild all their lives have to get clearances from the state police. While grandmas have nothing to do with the criminal acts of child abuse committed by priests and their protective superiors, in order to make the environment safe for children, everyone needs to be held accountable.

Unfortunately, it’s the time that we live in. Perhaps fencing clubs need to acknowlege this.

[Right-Handed Lefty]

Originally Posted by noodle

to note, he is only a moderator of the RMS subforum -- the section of which he is secretary.

I stand corrected. Although, it was not his post to edit and he changed it to break the link.

Yes, he is a shining example for the RMS. Hooray for us.

[qatet]

Originally Posted by Fencing Mom

Perhaps owners and managers of clubs should start obtaining clearances and requiring them for their employees/coaches. At first, in order to work in PA schools, only teachers had to file for criminal and child abuse history clearances issued by the state police and child welfare departments. Now, anyone who volunteers in a school (including volunteer fencing coaches) has to submit those clearances. Recently, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh started requiring clearances and long applications/pledges from the thousands of employees and volunteers in the diocese’s churches. Little old grandmas who have volunteered for the altar guild all their lives have to get clearances from the state police. While grandmas have nothing to do with the criminal acts of child abuse committed by priests and their protective superiors, in order to make the environment safe for children, everyone needs to be held accountable.

Unfortunately, it’s the time that we live in. Perhaps fencing clubs need to acknowlege this.

In PA at the moment you need to get three clearances - PA criminal record check, PA child abuse clearance, and FBI criminal record check (which involved going and getting fingerprinted and is generally annoying - not yet sure if I need to get fingerprinted again next year, which would be super duper annoying). In my duties for my club, I coach at a number of area schools, and all schools require these clearances. Yes, it is a good idea for clubs to have these background checks, even if you are not specifically involved with outside schools!